


Beyond the Known

by sisterawesomeness



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Prime AU
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 00:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 45,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4767056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisterawesomeness/pseuds/sisterawesomeness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miko's disappeared and the Prime universe will never be the same. What happened to her and who is this new girl who randomly showed up in her place? Why does she seem to know everyone? Will the bots ever see the energetic Japanese girl again? Or are there more mysterious powers plotting against them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: New Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story some time ago but on my fanfic page. I'm trying to move all my stories here as well and this is the first one I picked. So, here ya go. I own nothing but my OC!

I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. –Ralph Ellison

~*~

Miko was just glad to be out of detention. It had been one of those days that seemed to drag on forever… It wasn't her fault she'd accidentally fallen asleep in science class. Normally she was all for mixing chemicals and seeing what might happen, even if the directions didn't warrant it. Instead, they'd all been forced to watch a stupid documentary on acids and bases. There weren't even any pictures of what would happen if you spilt any of them. So her teacher assigned her detention after she woke her up.

Normally, it would have been a mega bummer but today was Friday! Better yet, it was going to be spring break and she wouldn't have to deal with this place again for an entire week. It made detention a bit more bearable; though it helped she was in an extremely good mood even for her standards.

So when she was dismissed and Bulkhead picked her up she couldn't help but smile all the way to the base as they blared their favorite Slash Monkey song. "Yeah!" she cheered getting out. "This is so gonna rock! An entire week with no school and hanging out with you guys every day!"

She heard Ratchet grumble as he worked on the groundbridge but ignored him. "Hea, Bulk! I think this calls for some tunes." Miko was about to grab her guitar when an alarm sounded throughout the base.

"What's up?" Arcee asked.

"It appears as though there is a significant amount of energon appearing," Ratchet stated.

"Don't the cons usually keep this sort of thing low-key?" Jack inquired.

"Not if there's more energon than they could have accounted for," Ratchet explained. "Or this has something to do with a relic."

"Don't they have their own signature?" Raf questioned.

"Yes, but the energon reading could be used as a cover to disrupt any signal a relic might be putting off."

"Or it could be a trap," Arcee commented.

"That may be but we cannot take the chance of allowing a relic to fall within Decpticon hands," Optimus reasoned. "Autbots roll out!" Ratchet started the groundbridge and the team began to make their way through. Miko took the opportunity to try and run after them… Only to be grabbed by Ratchet who'd gotten used to the girls ways by now.

"Oh no you don't, young lady," he put her down only after the groundbridge was deactivated. "You are not putting yourself in danger, again!"

"You're no fun, docbot!" she pouted. "Besides, Bulk wouldn't let anything happen to me while they crush some con butt!"

"Miko," he was exasperated, "You just don't understand. Every time you do something like that without thinking you not only put yourself but everyone around you in danger as well." Jack and Raf stood on the balcony and watched the exchange.

"You worry too much," was her simple reply. "There's no way the cons could ever beat you guys and I can take care of myself."

"I swear by the Allspark you…" He seemed to be so frustrated he couldn't get his next words out properly. "You are the most overconfident, stubborn, childish organism I have ever had the displeasure to meet!" he finally burst out. "You have no consideration for the consequences of any of your actions and blindly rush into situations without thinking! Why couldn't you be more like Jack or Rafeal and behave yourself?"

The outburst had been a long time coming and the children knew it. Although they had no clue how far it would be taken. Said boys kept quiet from their positions and watched the two glare at one another. Miko appeared unphased by Ratchet's statements and merely looked at him with an annoyed frown.

"Behave myself?" she really sounded pissed. "What am I some sort of pet? You know what your problem is Ratchet? You're too uptight and wouldn't know a good time if it came up and bit you on the aft!"

"Watch your language!" he scolded.

"Um guys?" Jack tried to intervene before things got too heated but they ignored him.

"You're not my parents Ratchet, you can't control my life!"

"I'm trying to save your life!" he countered. "Although sometimes I wonder why I even bother. You've never once apologized for your actions and what you've put this team through numerous times. No matter what any of us do you keep repeating those same dangerous actions and probably will continue until something drastic occurs."

"That's life, doc. I don't want to be cooped up in this place when I could be seeing some serious action! It's not really living and I'm not going to be sorry for trying to live it up."

"You are incourageable!" he nearly shouted.

"Ratchet?" Rafeal tried but was tuned out.

"Well if I'm such a bother why are you even talking to me?" she turned the tides.

He let out a disgusted huff. "Very well, Miko. From here on I will not try to stop you or give you any more advice. In fact, we no longer even have to converse." He turned around and headed off to grab something from one of the storage rooms.

"Fine, not like I enjoyed talkin' to you anyways," she mumbled picking up her guitar.

"You know he's only looking out for you," Jack told her.

"I don't think I asked your opinion either," she casually replied messing with the guitar strings.

"Whatever," he threw his hands up and walked over to the T.V. Raf, not knowing what to say simply followed him.

Miko let out a heavy sigh as she fixed her strings and got ready to hook up to the amp. Until she noticed the groundbridge activate. She glanced up but Ratchet was still out of the room. Neither Jack nor Raf seemed to perceive it's reactivation as they became engrossed in a racing game. She casually put her guitar back down and walked over. No one had come through so she doubted it was some attempt from the cons to get into the base.

Maybe it was a glitch Ratchet had been trying to fix? She glanced around and noted no one but her was paying attention to the swirling vortex. "Well," she thought, "It's now or never." So without a second thought she waltzed right through the groundbridge and didn't bother looking back.

~*~

When she came out on the other side it was pure and utter chaos. It reminded her of the time she saw everyone fighting over the canister that messed with Bulkhead's memory. Optimus was grappling with Knock Out, Bulkhead and Breakdown were hammering each other. Arcee and Bumblebee had their servos full with numerous Vehicons and shots were being fired everywhere. "Cool," she said.

A shot was fired extremely close to her and she had to dive sideways to avoid it. "Whoa!" she yelled. Bits of rock flew around her and dust kicked up. Arcee noticed the out of place noise and glanced over. "Miko!" she shouted.

The others heard Arcee's outburst and glanced over to see the little girl smiling at them as she bolted away from the nearest explosion. "Miko!" Bulkhead delivered a swift punch to the side of Breakdown's face and sent the con flying backwards. He attempted to reach his charge only to be grabbed from behind and thrown backwards onto his back. "Cee!," he called as he fought his way back to his feet and pitted his strength against his old enemy. "Get Miko to safety!"

"On it!" She blasted a few more cons out of the way but she was the closest to the girl. Arcee snatched her up and Bumblebee covered her as she made her way to some nearby rocks. "Of all the insane things to do!" she scolded placing Miko down. "Now stay here and out of sight. " Miko looked like she was going to argue but Arcee beat her to it. "None negotiable." With that she was off back into the fray.

The girl peaked out from behind her post and saw the bots and cons dishing it out. It was then she got to notice energon crystals all over the cave. They literally covered eighty percent of the walls and all of the ceiling. It was beautiful but also explained why the cons probably couldn't keep all of it under wraps. She noticed each time someone fired the crystals on the ceiling would shake a bit back and forth.

Miko whipped out her cellphone and took a picture of the ceiling and the epic fight going on. Eradicons were literally being sliced in two by Optimus while Knock Out was going hand to hand to hand with Bee. Arcee jumped off of a drill and blasted two cons near her and Bulkhead was smashing a Vehicon into the floor. Breakdown got up from his position on the ground and appeared ready to charge the Wrecker again… And that's when it happened. The Vehicon being pounded into the earth got off a stray shot that went directly into the ceiling.

What happened next was inevitable. One large crystal exploded and caused its neighbors to do the same. Those that didn't swung back and forth dangerously and began dropping within seconds. Parts of the cave roof following them. The bots and cons had only milliseconds to react but it didn't do much. They might have avoided the larger pieces but they still got hit with falling debris regardless.

As for Miko, she was blasted backwards by a crystal falling into the rocks in front of her. She rolled backwards a good twenty feet into one of the caves various neighboring caverns and was what probably saved her life. Miko coughed dust as she settled and took a moment to clear her head. When she looked up she noticed a ringing in her ears from the cave in and found herself thinking, "Not again."

Slowly, she managed to get to her feet and dusted herself off. She looked up and noticed she at least wasn't blocked in and could easily get past the boulders in front of her. "Guess I got lucky," she mumbled. Miko took a step forward to search for the bots when a noise behind her caught her attention. When she turned around she was faced with what appeared to be a groundbridge. Only this one was smaller than those she'd seen before. It also mainly consisted of hues of blue and purple instead of the normal green and white.

A figure slowly took shape from the intermingling colors and Miko prepared herself for whatever was going to happen next. Finally, whoever or whatever it was stepped completely out of the vortex and stood a few feet from her. They stared at each other for a full ten seconds, neither willing to make a move. After what seemed like a small eternity to the young girl the being spoke, "Hello, Miko."


	2. Gone?

It took the Autobots a few minutes simply to dig themselves out of the rubble. They made coughing noises to dispel some of the rock dust from their vents. "Is everyone alright?" Optimus asked surveying his team.

Bumblebee made a few beeps to indicate he was good. Arcee gave him a simple thumbs up while Bulkhead groaned and held his helm. "Miko!" he shouted and instantly the team became focused on the displaced little girl.

"Autobots, spread out but keep within optic range. We cannot be sure all of the Decepticons managed to flee the cave in," their leader cautioned.

"Miko!" Arcee called making her way over to where she had placed the girl. For a second her spark nearly froze when she saw an extremely large rock laying in front of what used to be a makeshift shield of boulders for the child. However, she calmed somewhat when she saw no blood or sign of a hurt human. But she felt uneasy not being able to locate Miko as effortlessly as she should have been able to. Arcee guessed she should be within at least twenty feet or so of the rocks but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Miko!" Bulkhead hollered. They waited for a couple of seconds but there was no reply. "Where are you?" he called into the cavern. They continued to search the area for a few more minutes and took turns calling out to her. Every time they waited but there was no answer. Not even a rock moved, save for where they stood or walked. "Where could she have gone?" he asked the others still searching.

Bumblebee answered and Arcee shrugged her shoulders before putting her own idea up. "Could one of the cons have snatched her when we weren't looking?"

"That would be unlikely," Prime answered. "She was securely behind us when the ceiling collapsed. We barely had time enough to react. There is no plausible way any of them could have grabbed her and avoided being crushed."

"Or blown to bits by us," Arcee concluded.

"Then she has to be around here somewhere. Miko!" Bulkhead shouted. "If you can hear me show us a sign! Yell, move a rock, anything!"

They held absolutely still and patiently listened. Right as Bulkhead was going to call out again they heard something. It was so faint they first thought they had imagined it, until they heard it again. A simple "Thump" "Thump" but it was music to their audios. "Miko!" Bulk called out. "Don't worry I'm comin'!" He bolted toward the barely noticeable noise and the others were close to follow. "Hold on!" Arcee added and Bumblebee let out a very high pitched serious of beeps.

They followed the sound until they came, ironically, about twenty feet away from where Arcee had originally placed her. It appeared as though the noise was coming from behind a couple of boulders. They weren't overtly big but they did obstruct their view of an opening to a small cavern. The bots hadn't been able to notice it until they were practically on top of it. Without much effort the Wrecker tossed the rocks aside and peered into the darken niche. "There you are," he started, "We've been lookin' everywhere for ya. Had me worried si-" he abruptly halted and the other Autobots froze, fearing the worst.

"Bulk?" Arcee cautiously asked.

"What is wrong?" Prime inquired.

Instead of answering, Bulkhead took a step backward and let them see for themselves. Before they could move forward a small figure appeared from the side cavern and carefully stepped over the uneven floor and small bits of debris. Only problem was this girl was not Miko. See was a few inches taller with flowing brown hair that fell in front of her face. Some of it was put up in a sort of messy bun with the ends sticking out, that section was black. Her skin tone was more tanned and she had grey eyes that seemed to match her calm expression perfectly. She wore a black hoodie with matching converse, a pair of ripped up jeans, and a white spike necklace on her throat.

"Hello," she evenly greeted.

For a few moments none of them could really comprehend what was happening. Similar thoughts ran through their processors instantaneously. Who is this girl? Where is Miko? Has she seen Miko? What were they going to do now?

Optimus was the first to act as he took a step forward and knelt down as to not intimidate the girl or freak her out. "Hello, I am Optimus Prime and this is my team. We are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron, also known as Autobots." He stopped to give her time to digest the situation.

Her serene expression didn't change and she still held a small smile on her face. "Nice to know. My name is Siv Gma Torec and it is a pleasure to meet you Optimus Prime." The bots were a little put off by her unchanging attitude but couldn't stop to focus on it at the moment. "Something is upsetting you," she observed and the smile completely disappeared, leaving her with a neutral expression. "What is it?"

"No offense," Arcee spoke up, "but you weren't who we were expecting."

"Who were you hoping to find?" she asked tilting her head slightly to the side. It reminded Arcee of one of Jack's neighbors cats when they were interested in something.

"Her name's Miko," Bulkhead spoke up. "She's a little shorter than you with black hair but it's pink at the ends. Brown eyes."

"She's also pretty loud," Arcee added. "You couldn't miss her." Bulkhead gave her a look but she chose to ignore it.

"I'm sorry, I cannot say I've seen her," Siv answered. Everyone seemed deflated by that but they also had other issues to deal with at the moment. The cons could be back any minute and they not only had to look for Miko but now had another human who knew about them.

"Bulkhead, Arcee, and I will stay here and continue to search for Miko. Bumblebee please take Siv to our base," Optimus stated. "It will be safer for her there." They all agreed and Optimus called Ratchet for a groundbridge. Bumblebee put his hand on the ground and Siv took the hint to climb on. He walked through and was a little surprised she didn't seem overtly fascinated by the vortex like the other children had been. When they excited the other side they were met with two worried boys and an angry medic.

"Of all the idiotic things I've seen," they could hear Ratchet mumble. "You just had to run off, young lady, right after I-" he ceased his rant/lecture when he saw it wasn't Miko sitting in the scout's servos. "Who is this?"

"Where's Miko?" Raf asked. Bumblebee beeped his answer and Raf translated his shocking response for Jack. "Miko's missing?"

"What?" Jack was astounded.

Bumblebee nodded and gently set Siv on her feet. She didn't appear to be suffering from any of the lightheadedness or nausea the others had experienced their first time through the bridge. "Hello," she said to the boys with that whisper of a smile reappearing on her face.

"Um, hea," Jack answered.

"Not to be rude but who are you?" Rafeal inquired fixing his glasses.

"My name is Siv Gma Torec and it is nice to meet you," she politely answered. "Might I ask who you both are?"

"I'm Jack, Jack Darby."

"I'm Rafeal Esquivel, but you can call me Raf."

Ratchet reactivated the groundbridge so Bumblebee could go back through to help the others in their search. When he was done and looked away from the controls he noticed the girl standing near his pedes and looking up at him. "Hello," she said to him.

"Hello," he answered going to walk away.

"Might I know your name? Mine is Siv," she continued.

"My designation is Ratchet."

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you Ratchet. Are you, by chance, a doctor?"

"Yes, I am this team's medic." With that statement he walked away from her not wanting to really continue the conversation. Miko was currently missing and he was in no mood for twenty questions.

"Don't mind him," Jack told her seeing how Ratchet's actions could be considered rude. "He's just worried."

"I don't mind," she casually replied turning to face him. "I am sorry to hear I was the one found instead of your friend."

"Don't worry, Miko's always getting herself into situations like this," Jack told her. "I'm sure the bots will find her and she'll come back with a ton of pictures wanting to tell us all about it."

"Yeah," Raf agreed. Though it was clear to see the boys held a small amount of doubt and worried for her.

"I know this is probably a bit much for you to take in right now," Jack decided to change the subject. "But how much did the bots tell you?"

"Optimus Prime told me his name and relayed what he and his team where. Also, that they were from a planet called Cybertron," the boys were impressed how she repeated the information the same way one would repeat the instructions for a recipe. Almost like she ran into an alien race of robots every day.

"Well there's a bit more to the story than that," Raf stated.

"A lot more actually."

"Really?" she inquired. "If you do not mind, I would like to hear it. I always enjoy a good story."

"I don't think so," Ratchet broke in. "We have no idea who she is or if she will disclose any of our information."

"Come on Ratchet," Raf spoke up for her. "You trusted us."

"Besides, it's not like we can't tell her now," Jack added. "She's kinda in the same boat we are. The least we could do is give her a heads up."

Ratchet let out the equivalent of a sigh but relented seeing their logic. "Alright, but she will remain here until the others return and we can sort this out."

"Thank you, Ratchet." He glanced down to see her looking up at him with that tiny smile. He shrugged her off and went back to work.

A couple hours passed by with the boys relating all of their adventures with the bots. They took their time describing their run-ins with the cons and how she should take care never to meet them. "They'll crush us if they get the chance," Jack was finishing up. "Especially since we're friends with the bots."

"But Miko was never afraid of them," Rafeal spoke up and smiled at some of his memories.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "She'd face off with them in a second or run right into the middle of a battle without thinking just to get a good shot."

Siv had listened intently to their tales the entire time without uttering a single word. Until now. "She was very brave I take it?"

"Brave… Maybe not the first word I'd use," Jack thought a moment. "But there's no denying it."

"She wouldn't hesitate to defend any of us," Raf stated. "Even if the odds were against her." The trio sat in a sort of awkward silence as the boys realized how long it had been since the bots had headed out. "It sure is taking them a long time to find her."

"Yeah, you'd think they would have radioed in by now," Jack was too concerned to try and hide it.

As if the universe heard them Ratchet activated the groundbridge and they watched the bots slowly come through. They were caked in dust, dirt, and mud and appeared nearly dead on their feet. The first thing everyone noticed though was that Miko was not with them. Bulkhead lagged behind and looked the roughest out of all of them.

"Well?" Ratchet asked, not understanding why the little girl was not sitting in someone's servos grinning at him.

Arcee shook her head and everyone's face fell. The boys looked to each other in utter disbelief. The bots hadn't found her? Sure they'd all been in their fair share of jams but they had always been alright at the end of the day. Heck, even when Bulkhead, Arcee, Jack, and Miko had been trapped in a cave with Megatron and Starscream they'd gotten out. They sported bruises and sore muscles for a week but they got over it. She'd been captured at the museum when the kids went after the Energon Harvester, and she'd bravely faced down an army of Scraplets. Nothing bad had happened to her then. Miko had faced off against M.E.C.H., Knock Out, and Breakdown and lived to talk about it.

Now she was missing? Miko wasn't coming back? What would they say to her foster parents? Or her real parents for that matter? Was she still stuck in the cave? Had the Decepticons run off with her? What had happened to their adventurous little girl? Where was their friend?

Everyone was so preoccupied on their racing thoughts they weren't paying attention to their newest edition. She was still sitting on the couch where the boys had left her. Currently, she faced away from the others, but even if she wasn't their thoughts kept them too busy to focus on her. Or the fact her smile spread just a bit further across her face.


	3. In the Dark

Siv slowly got off the couch and made her way over to see the bots. Ratchet was the first to notice her presence seeing as she didn't say anything or stand overtly close to anyone. He vented and turned to Optimus. "What are we going to do about her?" he asked.

"Don't worry," Jack spoke up. "We filled her in."

"You do not have to fear me divulging your information." They observed the closest thing to a full smile/ smirk they had seen her make. "I know how to keep a secret."

"Very well," Optimus stated. Before he could continue a loud vibrating could be heard and they all looked over to see Raf pulling out his phone. "Hola Mama," he said and started talking to her.

Jack pulled his own phone. "I'd better call Mom," he stated and gave her a quick call. Once they were done the boys looked back up at the bots. "My Mom thinks I'm spending the night at a friend's," Rafeal answered. "I told Mom I was going to spend the night here," Jack stated. "But I didn't tell her about Miko… Yet."

"What are we going to do about Miko's host parents?" Raf inquired sounding worried. "We might get away with her being gone tonight since she never tells them where she's going. But eventually they'll miss her."

"I don't know Raf," Jack replied. "We'll let tonight go and call them tomorrow saying she's with us. If she hasn't shown up by then." The last comment hung heavily in the air. As if desperate to change the subject Raf turned his attention to Siv. "Do you need to go home?" he innocently questioned. "That's right," Jack basically face-palmed, "You're folks must be freaking out by now."

"It is not a problem," was her simple reply. "My family knows I can take care of myself."

"But do you need to call them or something?" Jack inquired a bit taken aback. His own mother was pretty cool but even she would freak if he didn't at least call her.

"No," her answer was emotionless but the next sentence appeared to hold a small hint of sadness. "They are not home anyway."

"Oh. Are they out of town?" Rafeal was curious.

"You might say that."

"So do you live around here or somewhere else?" Jack hadn't known how far away the bots had bridged. For all he knew she could have lived in California or Florida.

"I am new here," she stated. They waited for her to say more but she didn't exaggerate.

"Ok." The way she stared at him reminded him of how someone gazes at a stranger for the first time. As if trying to memorize everything about them. But she held that same expression every time she looked at him. He had to admit it was a bit unnerving. "Would you like a tour of the base?"

"I would, thank you." Raf and Jack took the initiative to give her the grand tour of the place. It also served to give the bots a little room to breathe.

~*~

"Optimus," Bulkhead started once the kids were out of the room. "We can't give up on Miko. She's still out there!"

"Take it easy Bulkhead," Arcee stated. "We scanned the entire cave and saw no sign of her. Right now we don't exactly have a lot of leads to go on."

"Then the cons must've snuck up behind us and grabbed her," he was basically shouting. "We have to get her back."

"We currently have no way of knowing if the Decepticons are holding Miko," the Prime spoke up. "We cannot rush blindly into this."

"We can't abandon her either!" the Wrecker was clearly upset and none of them could blame him. Arcee and Bumblebee reflected on their own charges and some of the more drastic situations they had gone through. They would probably behave the same way if their own partners were missing. Optimus had to stay strong for his team but inside he was just as concerned as everyone else. He held a certain fondness for the children and could not bear to consider losing one of them. They were strong, there was no doubt about that but they were so young. They were innocent and fragile. He had promised to protect them, even if he had to give up his own spark to do so. And right now, with Miko missing he silently prayed to Primus he would not have his promise broken. Ratchet composed himself rather well but inside he felt a churning in his tanks. He had to argue with Miko before she vanished. He did have valid points but maybe if he hadn't said anything she wouldn't have tried to go against him. Then she might not have followed them… Perhaps it was entirely his fault she was missing.

~*~

The boys showed her the bot's rooms, the rooms they used when they slept over, storage rooms, the training room, where they put their weapons, etc. She didn't ask any questions or comment but followed them at a decent pace. Her countenance never changed except at the end of the tour. Siv stopped and it almost appeared like she was listening for something. Before they could ask what was up she beat them to it. "Would you mind if I used the restroom?"

"Uh, knock yourself out," Jack pointed in the direction of where they'd showed her.

"Thank you," she waved to them as she walked off. Not wanting to appear creepy the boys decided to stay put so they wouldn't be caught hanging outside the women's bathroom. However, if they had followed her they would have seen she did not go in that direction. Instead, she headed back for the main room where the Autobots still convened after they had the chance to wash off. Even from a distance she could hear them going on about what they were going to do. To be safe they were going to check the cave again first thing in the morning and work from there.

They did not notice her quiet footsteps as she walked in. "We're gonna need as much help as we can get," Bulkead stated. "I say we call in Wheeljack."

"Whoa," Ratchet objected. "Not after what he pulled when Dreadwing appeared. He's too much of a liability."

"But he's the best concrusher I know."

"Who says we're going to go after the cons?"

"You'd just leave Miko with them?" Bulk countered.

"We're not even sure they have her," Ratchet stressed.

"Who else?"

"Excuse me," a small voice piped up. They glanced down to see Siv standing there.

"Yes, Siv?" Prime inquired.

"I wasn't sure at the time but this could be of use to you," she casually said pulling out a pink cellphone with a little tassel attached to it.

"That's Miko's phone!" Bulk yelled.

"Where did you find it?" Arcee asked.

"Back in the cave. I found it soon after that cave in but didn't think about it until now," she shrugged like this detail was no big deal. "For all I knew another hiker dropped it. However, from what you've told me this Miko must have been the one to lose it." She flipped it open and turned the camera on. "This was on the screen when I found it." She held it up so the bots could see. The image was of a purple Vehicon right in the center of the screen.

"It was the cons!" Bulkhead declared. "Next time I get my servos on one of them," for emphasis he pounded his fist into his other hand. But he was interrupted by Optimus.

"If it truly was the Decepticons we have no way of determining where they're current location," he told them.

"So until they make a move…" Arcee started and no one cared for where this was going. "We're scraped."

"Bulkhead?" Siv stated and they realized they had actually forgotten she was standing there. "Would you mind if I kept ahold of this? I know she was your friend but I would like to return this personally once you locate her."

Bulkhead nodded. What was he going to do with it anyway? Not like he had pockets. Right after Siv placed the phone in the pocket of her hoodie the boys wandered in. "There she is!" Raf pointed out. "We searched half the base for you."

"I am sorry. I must have taken a wrong turn after going to the restroom." She did something rather unexpected then. She yawned, it wasn't a big yawn but that must've been the most facial features she'd used since meeting them. It was then the bots realized how late it was.

"Alright you three," Arcee said. "It's been a long day and it is way past your bedtime."

"You act like we're three Cee," Jack stated.

"Nonetheless, it would be wise for the three of you to recharge," Prime cut in. "If she wishes to remain Siv may stay in one of the spare rooms of her choosing."

"Thank you, Optimus Prime," she nearly yawned again as Arcee lead the three to their rooms.

~*~

They watched them leave and Optimus noticed something in Ratchet's expression. Just a little shift in his frown the others wouldn't have been able to detect. He waited until Bumblebee and Bulkhead went off to their own quarters before speaking with him. "What is troubling you, old friend?"

Ratchet stopped fiddling with what he was working on to face his leader. After so many years together, Optimus knew him too well. "Before she vanished… Miko and I…" Prime stood there patiently waiting for the medic to continue. "I yelled at her. I told her how irresponsible she was always putting herself and the team in danger. Perhaps if I hadn't said anything she would still-"

It was there Prime cut him off. "She would have gone anyway. You cannot blame yourself for this," he placed a reassuring servo on Ratchet's shoulder. "What happened cannot be undone. There is no changing the past. We will find her and you may apologize to her then if you feel the need to do so."

"Thank you Optimus. I needed to hear that." The way Ratchet was standing let Optimus know there was more to it than that. "There is more?" he prompted him to go on. The medic stood there a few seconds before venting and continuing. "Maybe I am just being paranoid but don't you think this Siv appearing exceedingly coincides with Miko's disappearance? Where did she come from? Why was she in those caves to begin with? I highly doubt her attire is fit for 'hiking' as she put it."

It was the Prime's turn to ponder a moment. "You may be correct. However, we have no proof her story is untrue."

"Optimus, she has Miko's cellphone! If that's not suspicious I'm not sure what is."

"For now we will keep a close eye on her. Primus willing we will find Miko tomorrow and Siv will have no connection to her disappearance."

~*~

In the room she was given Siv sat on the bed, one meant for humans, swinging her legs lazily over the side. She was in the same clothes as earlier, they had offered her some makeshift pajamas, mainly consisting of some big pants and a t-shirt, but she had declined saying she would be fine. Her head bobbed back and forth, as if she were listening to music only she could hear. "So," she said to the utter darkness around her, "Ratchet already has his suspicions of me. I knew he was clever. Then again, they are all rather impressive in their own ways." A vibrating sound could be heard and she looked down at the pink phone. Siv lightly smiled at the number as she flipped it open. "Yes?" she answered. "I am fine, you? That is good to hear. The plan? On to phase two tomorrow. I know it is surprising, things are moving along rather quickly. The Autobots? Besides the medic they do not suspect a thing. He is a clever one. How did you like my performance? Well, I am sorry but you know this is how I talk. I've never been good with emotions, and this body… Do not get me started." She paused to listen for a minute before getting the chance to continue. "I am glad you are enjoying this. Yes, I know I used an expression that implies emotional content behind it. No need to get smart with me. Yes, I know that you know I know you were as they say 'kidding' with me. That was my attempt at 'kidding' back at you." Another pause. "I was that bad, huh? I will have to work on that. I believe the boys will get wind of something if I do not start using more 'slang'. By the spark you would think no one speaks proper English these days." A few seconds later. "Yes, I know no one actually does. Well, I had better go before someone notices an outgoing call or hears me. Stay tuned tomorrow." Siv's smile grew just a little more. "Things are about to get very interesting."


	4. Something's Up

Ratchet awoke long before the others. He made his way from his quarters out into the control room groggily. He could honestly say he had gotten the worst recharge of his life, if he even got any that is. The medic had a suspicion Bulkhead wasn't fairing much better. "Good morning, Ratchet," a voice startled him completely awake and on instinct he whipped out his scalpels. Before he turned to the source and saw Siv sitting on the couch watching television.

"Siv!" he scolded retracting his weapons. "What are you doing out here?" He was the only bot, with the exception of Optimus every now and then, who ever got up this early. The fact she was up and running about the base on her own did not bode well with his systems in the slightest.

In response, she tilted her head slightly to the side and gazed at him with an unwavering emotion he couldn't read, or perhaps she held no emotion whatsoever on her countenance. He just could not tell with her and it was bothering him to no end. "I am watching television," she replied like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

He fought the urge to roll his optics. "I can see that, what I meant was why are you up at this hour? Most humans tend to sleep in as much as possible, do they not?" That was the impression he got from the other humans and how they normally grumbled at their guardians always picking them up early on the weekends.

She rolled her shoulders in a shrug and turned back to the T.V. before answering. "Most do. However, I could not sleep. It is the same for you I take it?" She turned back to face him. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer her but grumbled something unintelligible. When he looked back up her gaze was again on the screen and not paying attention to him.

"I will return shortly," he told her, "Do not touch anything."

"Very well."

With that he stepped into a side room. He was going to get his ration of energon but wanted to see something first. He stopped and waited, listening. The entire situation with the girl hardly made any logical sense to him. She had happened to be hiking in her current outfit when the team and cons had been going at it? Right when Miko happened to disappear. It was too much for him to dismiss. Not to mention she was in possession of Miko's cellphone and had failed to mention it until hours later? Then there was the girl's demeanor. He had often wished for Miko, and even at times the boys, to behave more and be quieter. It would have appeared his prayers were answered where Siv was concerned. So far she had only asked him two questions on her own and did not really speak unless spoken to. She did not seem energetic and was simply there… Maybe that was why she seemed to have him on edge. He couldn't place it but when she made eye contact, he just felt something was off. Ratchet was more apt at following logic over his emotions. But this wasn't something he could simply brush off. This feeling, he felt it in the depth of his spark, was more like one might register an instinct. And he had spent enough time on the front lines to know when to follow his instincts.

He waited for the equivalent of fifteen earth minutes but he didn't hear anything and when he peeked around the corner she hadn't moved an inch. The medic knew he couldn't stay there all day so he waited five more minutes before reluctantly walking off to get his energon. When he returned nothing had changed. Ratchet went about his morning routines while trying to keep a stealthy eye on her. But every time he checked she still sat there watching the box. The creepy part was he hadn't seen her blink once. Until she turned her head to gaze over at him. Quickly, he turned his head downward pretending to be looking at some scans and hopping she'd buy it.

Luck apparently wasn't with him this time. "Am I bothering you?" she inquired, only he was a little shocked to find she was standing near his left pede. How was it she was able to move around so quietly and none of them could detect her until she was right on top of them?

He attempted to cover. "You are now. I am merely running some diagnostic scans on the groundbridge and cannot think with that television blaring."

"It's on the lowest setting besides mute there is," she pointed out. There was no judgment or gloating in her voice. There was nothing to indicate any reaction from her besides basic observations, like she was some answering machine voice or something. "You do not have to lie to me. If I am bugging you say so and I will retreat back to my room."

He felt like he was caught yet he reminded himself he was in the right and had nothing to feel bad about. "I do not care if you remain or not. So long as you let me work in peace." Ratchet turned back to his tools and actually hoped she would stay. Although she unnerved him he did not want to have to sneak after her making sure she went to her room. He'd checked the other's rooms on his way back from getting his ration and found all the doors except for the kid's locked, like usual. He had been extra careful checking Jack and Raf to make sure they were fine. The medic did not feel like doing it again or remaining outside her quarters making sure she did not sneak out.

"Understood," she stated and went back to the television.

They stayed this way for a few more hours and the base became more alive as the others awoke. None of them looked much better than Ratchet. They were all surprised to see Siv up and about as well. All of them turned to their medic but he only shrugged and went about his work. Jack and Raf were the last to get up. It hit a sort of soft spot with them because the last one normally up was Miko. Someone, basically Bulkhead, always had to retrieve her. She'd come out as grumpy as Ratchet normally was but cheered up after five minutes and would strangely become a 'morning person.'

But today there was no wake up call. Bulkhead skulked out alone and appeared to drag his pedes through the base. She wasn't there to steal the cereal box out of Jack's hand or pat Raf happily on his head. There was hardly any noise, no shouting or blaring music. The Autobots were mostly quiet, as were the humans. Until Jack tried to be polite. "Um, Siv? Are you hungry? We have cereal."

She stopped watching the screen long enough to turn to him and ask her own question. "What kind do you have?"

"Crunch and crack, Mello flakes, and Chaco puffballs," he answered.

"Did you say Chaco puffballs?"

"Yes. Do you like them?"

"They are my favorite," she practically beamed at him and it shocked them. They were used to seeing her so calm and collected and now she was downright jolly at the mention of this cereal? More shockingly, she slid down the handrail from the balcony and skipped over to the table. She gently took the box from a surprised Jack and made herself a bowl. But she stopped before adding milk. "Rafeal?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you have any chocolate syrup?"

The question floored everyone but somehow the boy managed to nod and said 'Yes' before pointing to the fridge. She walked over and retrieved it before adding it to the cereal. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal, except that was the exact same way Miko always had her cereal. That was her favorite cereal and she never had it without the syrup after she accidentally discovered the strange combination one night and let everyone in ear shot know about her awesome find. Siv ate merrily away, oblivious to the odd stares she was receiving from the bots and boys alike. They knew Bulkhead was taking it the hardest. It seemed to spur the Wrecker even more.

"What are we waiting for?" he started. "We need to get out there and search for Miko! Or find the cons who snatched her."

"Very well," Optimus stated. "Ratchet, prepare the groundbridge. We will return to the cave and see if there are any clues as to Miko's location."

The children got up from where they were sitting and walked over to see the bots off. The bridge started up and one by one they observed the Autobots drive through hoping they'd bring Miko back or at least figure out what exactly happened to her. Jack turned to Raf, "What are we gonna do now?"

"I don't know," the younger boy replied. "What do you want to do Siv?" They turned to where she'd been standing right beside Raf but there was no sign of her. "Siv? Where'd she go?"

Jack looked as confused as his younger friend and scratched the back of his head. "I don't know…" As if they both had a 'eureka' moment they glanced back at the shutdown groundbridge. "You don't think," Rafeal started. "Oh no," Jack finished for him. "Ratchet!" They both yelled.

~*~

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bridge the Autobots transformed and spread out to scan the cave once again. None of them suspected they had a small undetected shadow following them. "And," the small figure said crouching down behind a rock to remain hidden, "here we go." An explosion sounded not far behind Optimus Prime and the Autobots turned to face this new threat.

~*~

"What?!" the startled medic nearly shouted when he saw the boys running up to him.

"It's Siv!" Jack stated.

"She followed the bots through the groundbridge!" Rafeal finished.

"Wha… How do you know that?" he asked scanning the surrounding area hoping to catch sight of her but there was no trace. "She might be in another part of the base."

"Right after the groundbridge opened and everyone went through?" Jack asked.

"You're right," Ratchet conceded, thinking about how Miko usually acted in these situations, and went to contact the others. He knew something was up with her and this proved his suspicions. "Optimus, come in," he tried. All he got in return was unintelligible static. "Come in. Anyone." He grumbled and pressed a few more keys. "Nothing!"

"What are we going to do about Siv?" Jack questioned.

"The others might not know she's even there," Raf spoke up.

Ratchet vented and set in the same coordinates as last time. "I'll go retrieve her. You both remain here and operate the groundbridge." With that the medic bolted through the vortex and disappeared from the boy's sight.

~*~

When he excited the medic was a bit surprised at what he found. Not only was the team occupied but he saw why. The entire Decepticon team was there blasting away at them, including Megatron himself. He barely avoided being hit and ducked behind a nearby boulder for cover. Bumblebee apparently had the same idea and beeped at him wondering why he was there.

Arcee, Bulkhead, and Optimus noticed and drew back a bit to get better cover and some answers. "Ratchet," Arcee stated. "What's going on?"

"It's Siv!" The medic had to shout over a volley of fire to be heard. "She followed you through the groundbridge."

"What?!" they were all startled and immediately peered over their makeshift shields to glance around the battlefield. More than once they had to duck or return their own fire as they frantically glanced around. Finally, it was Bumblebee who spotted her. His worried beeping was well founded when the others noticed where she was exactly. She was across the field from them, standing behind a boulder looking directly at them. She did not appear to be concerned about her predicament but casually waved over to them as if saying, 'Come over here.' The only problem, she was straight behind the frontline of Decepticons, including their leader and his second in command.

"Really?" Arcee grumbled.

"Aw man," Bulkhead added. "How are we gonna get to her?"

"Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead," Optmius spoke up. "We will draw their fire while Ratchet retrieves her," he nodded his helm in the direction of some side caverns and tunnels the medic could use to circle around the cons and come up behind them. Everyone nodded and set to work. It started with Prime and the others sprinting right at the cons ducking behind boulders every now and then to avoid being hit while the medic stealthily snuck over to a side tunnel and made his way over to another. He had to duck in and out once and awhile to change which direction he was headed in and to make sure he was getting closer to her.

Finally, he poked his helm out and noticed she was only a couple yards away from where he stood. Luckily, all of the cons were too busy fighting to notice either of them. "Siv," he crouched down and whispered as loud as he dared. She glanced over to him and didn't seem phased in the slightest about the epic battle going on mere feet in front of her. He motioned for her to run over to where he was. It logistically made more sense, considering the enemy would be less likely to see her tiny form than the red and white form of the medic.

To his surprise she shook her head 'No' and bolted to a nearby tunnel. She briefly turned around and motioned for him to follow her instead. Then, she disappeared around the corner. Ratchet nearly glitched right there. "What in the name of the Allspark is she doing?" he thought. She was going to get herself, not to mention him and the rest of the team killed. Where was she going? She was proving to be just as bad, if not worse than, Miko after all!

The medic sighed and ran after her. If it wasn't for the cover fire his team provided and the leader and his lieutenant being distracted he would have been blown to bits. He ran into the tunnel and saw her figure waiting at the end of it where another turn occurred. "Come on, Ratchet," she said before running off again. "Siv!" he called after her but it was no use. "I'm too old for this," he grumbled chasing after her.

This time he was rewarded when he turned this other corner and saw she was standing a few feet away from him in a decent sized cavern. "What are you doing?!" he scolded her. "You're going to get us offlined."

She seemed nearly oblivious to his tone of voice and anger as she leaned down and brushed away some dirt. "Ratchet, look what I found."

"We do not have time for this," he came over to where she stood intent on grabbing her. "Wha-" he stopped when he noticed what it was exactly she was kneeling over. "By the Allspark."

"Well well," a voice said smugly behind them. "What do we have here?" They both turned to see Knock Out and Breakdown coming at them with smirks plastered on their faces. "I didn't know they still let you on the field," the other medic stated. "Maybe they're using him for cannon fodder," Breakdown added. "Must be because he's too ancient to actually fight." It was then Knock Out happened to glance down and noticed Siv kneeling in the dirt. "What's this? Did you decide to get a pet of your own?" Breakdown followed his partners gaze and smirked at what he found. "I wonder if it plays dead."

"Siv," Ratchet put himself between her and the cons. "Run and find Optimus or one of the others. I'll distract them."

"I'd like to see you try," Knock Out activated his saw and the noise echoed throughout the cavern.


	5. What is Going On?

Siv stayed right where she was as Breakdown and Knock Out charged at Ratchet from both sides. The medic stood his ground and prepared himself. Contrary to what most believed he had seen his fair share on the battlefield. He would be the first to admit he may be a little rusty but in moments of intense pressure, especially if it concerned another life, that was when the old doctor shown the best.

He watched the cons come straight at him and counted their steps in his head. In two seconds he had their pacing, and knew how to properly counter. Ratchet went for Breakdown first since he was the biggest and less agile than his partner. The medic waited until the ex-wrecker was practically on top of him before he ducked down, shifted, and used the bigger mech's momentum to simply toss him over his shoulders and away from himself and the human. The next second he was forced to use his scalpel to stop Knock Out's saw from going directly into his face.

"What are you going to do this time, doctor?" the red mech taunted. "You're nothing without that precious concoction of yours." Unfortunately, the con seemed to be semi-correct. He was pushing the older medic back and Ratchet could see Breakdown getting back to his pedes from the corner of his optic. He could also see that Siv hadn't moved at all! Maybe she was going into what humans referred to as 'shock' and couldn't move. Either way, he had to keep them away from her and the artifact.

But what Ratchet lacked in youthful strength and arrogance, he made up for in earned stamina and experience. He made it so he appeared to nearly lose his footing from Knock Out's advancement. The con thought he had the upper hand and pushed forward, exactly as Ratchet had planned. Precisely when the red mech shifter forward Ratchet firmly planted his pedes and drove his right pede straight up. It connected with the con's stomach platting, catching him completely by surprise. The older medic used this advantage and transformed his left servo so he could make a fist. An audible 'clang' filled the cavern as he hit the side of Knock Out's helm. The other went flying a few feet sideways and hit the cave floor hard. The medic waited two seconds but all he heard was a low moan and the red mech appeared down for the count.

Besides, he had other issues to deal with. "Siv!" he yelled at the young girl to grab her attention. "Run!" the rest of his message was lost as Breakdown took him by surprise and tackled him into the dirt. The girl looked at the struggling medic but didn't make a move to leave. Instead, she glanced down at the artifact and then casually turned her attention in time to catch Knock Out let out a barely audible groan as he clutched his helm and sat up.

It took him a second to readjust his optics but when they came back into focus, she was the first thing he noticed. He glanced over to see his partner keeping the Autobot medic busy as he got to his pedes and smirked at the smaller creature. "Hello there," he wickedly smiled down at her.

To his surprise she didn't look scared or worried in the slightest. Slowly, she got to her own feet and dusted the dirt off herself, in a fashion much like he had done a few moments ago. As he neared her she did not appear ready to run or stupidly attempt to snap at him. Her unchanging attitude was starting to grate on his circuits so he decided to up the ante. He activated his saw and the noise reverberated through the room. Ratchet managed to see past Breakdown enough to see what was going on.

"Knock Out!" he shouted at the other medic as threateningly as possible. "I swear if you put one servo on her!" He was silenced as Breakdown gripped his helm and held the medic in place so he could see. His other servo held the doctor's scalpel but wasn't much bothered by it.

"Or you'll what?" Knock Out teased. "Bore me to death?"

"Hea, Knock Out," Breakdown added. "I thought I'd get to mess with it a little before the big finale."

"Don't worry," the medic assured, "I'll leave some parts for you. Wouldn't want to ruin my new paint so soon."

"You ignorant piles of scrap!" Ratchet yelled.

"Such language, doctor!" both cons laughed at Knock Out's attempt to sound scandalized. "And over such a tiny thing," he was right in front of her and leaned down to practically be in her face. "From what I've heard you humans have something akin to energon you rely on to run throughout your little bodies. I've also been told it's a deep shade of red." The saw was only two feet away from her but she didn't even blink. "At least it'll match my paintjob."

Before he could do anything she stared squarely into his optics and what she said stopped him dead. The others were too far away to hear anything over the buzzing noise but Knock Out somehow managed to detect her detached voice. **"It is a pleasure to meet you, Knock Out, medic of the Decepticons."** The phrase itself shouldn't have meant much… Except for the fact she said it in perfect cybertronian, and it was a dialect used from the exact area he had inhabited before joining the Decepticons. The other two didn't understand why he shut-down his weapon and was staring at her like she was a scraplet.

"Uh, Knock Out?" Breakdown asked but his partner appeared not to hear him. Even if the Autobots had taught her their language how could she have?

His thoughts were interrupted when a blast rang throughout the cavern and he turned to see the Autobots storm in with their weapons trained at the two cons. Breakdown was planning on using the medic as a hostage but was blindsided as Bulkhead popped up next to him and uppercutted him enough his dentia cracked together and two flew out.

Knock Out looked to his partner and then back at the girl. She gave him a half-smile and pointed to a side cavern convenient enough to escape through. **"Do not worry,"** she started in the same dialect, but she only spoke loud enough for his audios. **"You will receive your answers later. And I can promise you we will meet again. For now, it would be best if you and your partner retreated."**

"I do believe you're right," he said turning to his partner. "There's always time for fun later." Breakdown nodded, not liking the odds himself. "And what fun it will be," the medic stated to himself as the cons transformed and escaped through a side tunnel.

"You alright, Ratchet?" Bulkhead asked.

"Yes," the medic shook his helm a bit but stood firmly on his pedes. "Nothing but a few scratches and dents."

"You ok, Siv?" Arcee asked the girl bending down to be eyelevel with her.

"I am fine. You should be more concerned with what I found," she answered pointing into the dirt. The femme looked and couldn't believe it.

"Optimus," she told the Prime, "you'd better come see this." The others kept a look out as the Prime walked over and saw exactly what she was astounded about. In front of them was a container of sorts, one not unlike those that held the relics they would later locate. Only unbeknownst to them, this one was not the regular blue and silver. Instead, it had the silver outline but was a mixture of blue and purples that glittered in the low lighting of the cave. It also had strange markings all over it. They knew most of it was ancient cybertronian, even though they could not read it, but the other marks were unidentifiable to the team. However, until now they had no real way of knowing what a regular container housing a relic was supposed to look like.

They didn't have much time to gawk as the other cons caught up to them and started bombarding the cavern. All of the Autobots opened fire but made sure to form a sort of protective circle around the human. "Rafeal," Optmus spoke into his comm. "Open a groundbridge at our coordinates."

"On it," he heard the boy reply as he was sent the information. Two seconds later a vortex opened up behind them and they knew it would be only seconds before Megatron and Starscream cut them off. Optimus grabbed the relic and motioned for Arcee to grab Siv. "Autobots, fall back," he ordered.

Arcee retreated first cradling the girl to her chestplate. She was followed by Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, and finally Optimus. They barely got through before the cons were at the location.

~*~

Megatron was far from pleased. "Not only did you all fail to defeat only five Autobots but they managed to locate and retrieve a relic!" he growled at his subordinates.

Not far off, Knock Out and Breakdown had circled back around the tunnels and came up behind their comrades and lord. "Perhaps we should delay rejoining our lord," the medic stated hearing metal crash against metal. "No arguing there," Breakdown added.

~*~

The Autobots came through the bridge and Arcee set Siv back on the ground. "Siv!" Raf said running over to her. "Are you alright?"

"I am fine, Rafeal."

"What was that back there?" Jack spoke up. "Why'd you go in after the bots like that?"

"That's what I would care to know," Ratchet added. "What on earth could you have been thinking?" In the back of his processor the medic had the feeling of déjà vu.

"I went because I wanted to see for myself what these 'Decepticons' were like. I did," she held no amount of being remorseful for what she had done.

"You could have been killed!" Ratchet nearly shouted.

"But I was not," she plainly replied. "You all were there to protect me."

"Only because I went through and told them!" the medic was growing increasingly frustrated. What was with adolescent human females and thrill seeking? "If I hadn't then you could have been kidnapped or offlined!" He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked over to see Optimus holding him back from going on a tangent.

"It was unwise to follow us Siv," Prime told the girl but she seemed unphased. "The Decepticons will not hesitate to capture humans they believe to be our allies and interrogate them for information."

"No offense Optimus Prime but you are all worrying over what could have been. Not what actually occurred. And if you all remember it was I who lead you to the relic you now hold," she pointed at the container.

Everyone looked to the container. She had a point; if she hadn't lead them to it the Decepticons probably would be gotten their servos on it. "How did you know it was there?" Ratchet inquired.

"I was running around the cave before you came to rescue me. I happened to spot it in the dirt and thought it might be important." The answer made sense but the medic was still weary. Did she really have enough time to spot it in the side cavern before he arrived? He highly doubted it but was cut off before he could question her again.

Bumblebee let out a series of beeps and Rafeal nodded his head. "Yeah, Bee. I wonder what's in it."

"Only one way to find out," Arcee added. "But what I don't get are those symbols all over it. Ancient cybertronian I understand."

"But everything else looks like scribbles," Bulkhead finished.

The Prime set it down on the floor and the boys got a good look at it. "I don't believe it!" Jack shouted.

"What?" Arcee questioned. Everyone else was as perplexed as to why there was such an outburst.

"That part's in Japanese!" Jack pointed to a certain section.

"How do you know?" Optimus inquired.

"Some of the best videogames are in Japanese with English subtitles," he shrugged.

"That's not all," Raf added glancing at a different section. "This part's in Spanish."

"Even English is on here," the older boy pointed out as he walked to the other side of the container. "We might be able to figure out what it says…"

"At least part of it," Rafeal added.

"I don't understand," Ratchet muttered shaking his helm.

"Why would an ancient artifact have human languages on it?" Bulkhead questioned.

"Can you tell what it says?" Arcee asked the boys.

"This part says something about someone appearing," Refael fixed his glasses to try and read it better.

"And this says 'knowledge that was lost' and I can't read the rest," Jack had his own section.

"We could go online and translate the Japanese sections," Raf offered.

"Yes but that would still leave the other sections undeciphered," Ratchet said. "The knowledge of the ancients was forgotten or lost eons ago."

Bumblebee started and Bulkhead agreed with him. "Still doesn't get us any closer to what happened to Miko. None of the cons were bragging about having her."

"And if they did why didn't they want to bargain her for this artifact?" Arcee put in.

"Did they even know it was there?" Rafeal inquired.

"By the looks on their faces when they saw Optimus holding it I serious doubt it," the medic answered. "And this seems far too elaborate to be some sort of trick."

"What exactly is going on here?" Jack questioned no one in particular. "First Miko disappears and then this artifact pops up with parts of it we can actually read."

"What is in it anyway?" Raf asked.

Prime motioned for everyone to stand back as he attempted to open it. Unfortunately, the lid did not appear to even be close to coming off. "It must need some sort of activation code," Ratchet hypothesized.

"What could that possibly be?" Arcee sounded a little peeved. "We have no way of knowing what was going through their processors when they made this thing."

"Maybe it's like a puzzlebox," Rafeal spoke up. "Only the clues aren't pieces that move but the words on the container itself."

"Lot good that'll do us," Jack muttered. "Even they can't read all of it."

"Maybe we could get close enough to the meaning to guess?" the younger counted.

"I'll begin scanning the encryptions now," Ratchet offered. "There must be some way to decipher the entire message."

"I'll save you sometime," a light voice said and they all looked over to Siv. "I know what it says."

"You can read three different languages?" Rafeal offered seeing as he didn't fully understand what she meant.

"Actually I can read all of it," she stepped closer to it.

"Right," the medic started. "Like you could not only read our language unaided but understand parts of it that even we cannot recognize."

She didn't answer him but touched the container and focused on the words. "There is a light shining in the vastness of space. Knowledge that was lost will be reclaimed as one goes missing but another appears. One shall lead the way and puzzles are meant to be solved. If not who is to say who exactly shall win and what will be lost. Until today the answer was unclear, now it is plausible." They all stood there completely dumbfounded. The words had lit up as she said them and now the entire container was glowing.

Slowly, the lid slid off on its own. Siv stood to the side and didn't give any inclination the entire situation was beyond being weird. "Aren't you going to claim your prize?" she inquired.

"Who are you really?" Jack finally managed.

"Shouldn't we be asking not 'who' but 'what' she is?" Ratchet asked.

"Oh Ratchet," she said with that hint of a smile on her face. "You are clever but then I knew you would be. So care to play a little game?"


	6. Riddle

"A game?!" Ratchet said indignantly. "This is no game."

"What are you?" Arcee activated her weapons and put herself between Jack and her. Bumblebee did the same with his own charge.

"Siv," Optimus didn't pull out his own weapons but he remained on guard. "How were you able to translate the writings on the container?"

She smiled and put a piece of hair behind her ear. "Because I'm the one who made it."

"What?!" the medic shouted.

"That's not possible," Bulkhead said. "This thing is ancient and you're what… Sixteen?"

"Oh Wrecker, I am much older than you suspect. And this body was supposed to be eighteen," she answered. "Guess I accidentally gave it a babyface didn't I?"

"Gave?" Jack spoke up. "What do you mean?"

"I made this body so I could interact with all of you," she gestured around the room. "My other form… Is not very pleasing."

"M-made?" Raf stuttered a little disturbed. "As in you grew it in a lab? How could you do that and put your consciousness in it?"

"It was quite simple. A few amino acids placed within the right conditions with a couple strands of DNA I happened to acquire. Then I let it grow until I needed it," she replied.

"How do you know that body didn't have a soul of its own?" Jack sounded angry.

"I regulated the brain waves so that a 'soul' could not form and would be compatible to my own mind. It is a bit complicated and I do not think explaining it would actually do you any good."

"If that is not your real body than where is it?" Ratchet spoke again.

"It is safe. You do not need to know where it resides." She casually looked down at her nails. "Shouldn't you be asking me if I know anything concerning a certain friend of yours?" As if to make a point she pulled out Miko's phone and waved it back and forth.

"You know where Miko is?!" the Wrecker pulled out his weapon and took a step toward her. "You'd better tell me or…"

She interrupted him but was unphased by the murderous look in his optics. "If you harm me you'll never get her back." Siv said it the same way she said everything else, with no emotion or real emphasis. But that may have been the reason it unnerved them all the more.

"What do you want from us?" the Prime selected his words carefully.

"Nothing much." Siv leaned against the container and put the phone away before continuing. "All you have to do is answer a simple question. Answer correctly and you'll get Miko back safe and sound. But if you cannot answer… Well you may never see your little companion again."

"How do we know it's not a trick?" Jack asked. "Even if we answer correctly how do we know you won't keep Miko and torture us with hope?"

"Clever, Jackson Darby. You're run-ins with Arachnid and M.E.C.H. have left you wise." She stared at him unblinkingly for a few seconds before continuing. "The fact is you have to rely on what I say to be true because you have no other choice. What is the worst that could happen by taking this 'leap of faith' I believe you humans call it?"

They all just stood there digesting her words and realized she was right. Siv was the only one who knew where their little girl was and if they did anything to her Miko could be lost forever. The best chance they stood was to play Siv's game. After all, she held all the cards.

"Tell you what," she added extra incentive. "If you answer correctly and I do not produce a perfectly fine Miko than you can always bash me into the floor. This body might not be my original but I am in here. I experience everything a human does, including pain. While none of you are torturers you all have ended sparks before. This body might not have one and I know you all swore to protect humans…" She looked directly at the Prime. "Particularly you Optimus Prime, or should I call you Orion Pax? Yes, I know of your past but that does not matter at this moment. You could not stand to see even one human life ended. However, while this body is human it does not have a consciousness on its own. Without me in it this body would be a lump of inanimate flesh and bone. Therefore, if you end my existence in this body you would be killing me, in a sense, not a human."

All of their faces were grim. She was giving them permission to kill her if she broke her word? They didn't know if they could. Even Bulkhead, who was so upset he could literally rip a con in to, did not think he could come close to doing so. This girl, not girl but they had nothing else to refer to her by, was responsible for their missing friend and the chaos over the last few days. Even if she hurt Miko, they couldn't bear to contemplate it, they couldn't harm this child. Regardless if this was her body or a falsehood it was too real. In their eyes she was a human girl, and a harmless appearing one at that! But they could have agent Fowler step in if things turned ugly and deliver a 'human' punishment.

"What a-are the rules?" they were brought back to reality by Rafeal, out of all of them, questioning her.

Siv gave her signature half-smile, gentleness seemed to settle on her features. "There is only one, Rafeal. Answer the question. You all may have a guess and guess as many times as you like. There is no penalty for wrong answers. I will tell you if you are wrong or right but not why if you are incorrect."

The group glanced back and forth between each other for confirmation they were really going to go through with this. They all knew they had no choice. For Miko's sake they had to try. "Very well," Optimus spoke up. "Ask your question."

She stood there a moment before beginning. "I have known you all before your creation, but this is your first time meeting me. I am neither here nor there but can be in two places at once. Until now I have seen all, observed, and recorded all. The knowledge of 13 stands before you. I rise while my brothers slumber and my creator is lost. In these troubling times a light emerges and two worlds, though separated, are brought together. Only now do you notice me, however you do not see me. My question for all of you is this: Who am I?"

When she was finished she stood there and patiently waited for their answer. In return, all she received were a bunch of blank stares. Even the great Optimus Prime had a look on his faceplates that meant he had no bloody idea what the answer could be. "Would you like me to repeat the question?" she asked.

"That was not a simple question," the medic spoke up.

"It's a riddle," Raf told him.

"What, in the name of Primus, is a riddle?" Ratchet countered.

"It's a question that has a double or mysterious meaning. Like the puzzlebox example I said earlier," the boy answered.

"Would you like a hint?" Siv inquired tilting her head in that odd way again.

"You're going to give us a hint?" Jack asked.

"Well, you all seem to be struggling so yes I am. The hint is my name, Siv Gma Torec."

"You just gave us the answer!" Ratchet fumed.

"I don't think it's that simple Ratchet," Raf stated fixing his glasses. "When it comes to riddles the answer isn't always right in front of you. You have to look beyond the words."

"You are a smart young man, Rafeal Esquivel," Siv spoke up smiling at him. Two seconds later a low grumbling could be heard and they all stared at her.

"What was that?" Arcee asked her.

"That was your stomach wasn't it?" Jack interjected.

"I believe it was."

"And what does that mean?" the medic sighed.

"She's hungry," the teenage boy explained. "No wonder, we haven't eaten in hours and you did a lot of running earlier." But he gave her a skeptical look.

"As I stated previously this body has the exact same experiences as any other body of this form does. This means I can get hungry, tired, and yes have to go to the restroom," Siv stated. "Perhaps me and the boys could eat something while you all think over your answers?" Without waiting for them to answer she headed off to the kitchen area to fix something to eat. Jack and Raf shrugged and followed her. The bots weren't too worried because they could be kept within optic range.

"Does anyone have any clue what the answer might be?" Arcee whispered.

"I have no idea," Bulkhead stated and noticeably shrugged. All he had to do was answer a question to get his buddy back and he couldn't even do it.

Bumblebee beeped something and patted the Wrecker on the back. "Bumblebee is correct," Optimus spoke up. "Perhaps if we dissect the question one piece at a time we can decipher it."

"Optimus," Ratchet stated, "Those phrases she said made no sense whatsoever. And that 'hint' she gave us is utterly useless! She asked 'who' she was and gives us her name? How do we know she is not taunting us?"

"You may want to listen to Orion on this one," Siv spoke up from the kitchen. The strange part was she didn't raise her voice but they could hear her loud and clear. When they glanced over at her all she did was give them that unemotional look and slightly wave before continuing her task.

The boys stared at her as she grabbed a piece of old pizza and sat down to eat. "You can join me you know," she lightly told them. "I don't bite." Slowly, they grabbed their own pieces and sat opposite her at the small table. They took their time eating and watched her like she was going to get up and attack them. When they were finished the three of them sat around the table staring at each other.

"Why are you doing this?" Jack was the first to break the awkward silence.

"Some lessons need extreme measures to be learned Jackson. You all will understand soon enough," she casually answered taking a sip of her coke.

"What lessons?" he pried but she didn't answer.

In fact, the next sound they heard was a phone vibrating. The boys quickly checked their pockets but nothing lit up on their screens. The noise continued as Siv took out Miko's phone from her pocket and looked at the screen. She clicked a few buttons and acted like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Miko's phone!" Raf said.

"It might be her host parents," Jack stated.

"Or her real parents," Rafeal sounded worried.

"Quick, hand it over," Jack tried to reach out and take the phone off her but she moved it away.

She held up and hand and waved her finger back and forth as if saying, "No no no." Siv continued to type something in before she closed it and put it away. "Isn't it considered rude to interrupt someone when they're on the phone?" she inquired.

"You shouldn't even have it!" Jack snapped and the bots looked to see what had upset him enough to cause such an outburst. "We're her friends and if her host or regular parents call we should be the ones to answer it not you."

She sat in her chair and tilted it back enough so it only rested on two legs. Something Miko herself had done often enough in that same seat. "Have you contacted them to let them know she is missing?" she countered. Jack was caught off by her question but knew she had a point. Here their friend was being held hostage and her folks didn't have a clue. As if sensing their discomfort she continued. "You would want the same thing done if you were in her place. You do not want her family to worry. For now, I would not concern yourselves with trivial matters." She tilted her head to look directly at the Autobots. "I believe you have a couple answers for me?"

~*~

And so a couple hours passed by with the bots and boys attempting to answer her question. And failing miserably. Arcee guessed she was a con, Bumblebee called her a rogue, Bulkhead a thief, Ratchet a pest upon society… All wrong. None of them felt as if they were coming even close to the actual answer. The boys had to call their own families to inform them they would be staying the night at a 'friend's house studying' or at the base another night. Luckily, their folks bought it or, in June's case, too busy working to mind.

Siv did not seem upset when they answered incorrectly nor did she rub it in their faces. She was the same as always. It grated on their nerves but after a while they were too depressed to really care. Currently, she sat in front of the television watching a monster truck rally. It was like a slap in the face for the Wrecker and the others noticed. "I am sorry," she spoke to him causing everyone to nearly jump. "But I heard this was going to be a good show. You all may turn it if you wish." She got up and headed out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Arcee asked.

"Restroom."

"Oh."

"Well you cannot go by yourself," Ratchet spoke up.

"Um Ratchet?" Raf nearly stuttered.

"Yes?"

"Whether or not she's a real girl…" Jack took up for the younger boy. "We can't really follow her to the bathroom." The bots stared with confusion. "It's just not decent."

"For a guy to follow a girl to the restroom," Raf finished and he looked as red as a tomato.

"Which means none of you guys can either," Jack explained.

"What?" the medic was exasperated.

"But Arcee can go with her," Raf quickly told him. "Since she's a girl too."

"Foolish earth customs," the medic grumbled. "There is no significant difference between a mech and a femme except…"

"Not something we really need to know right now Ratchet," Jack scratched the back of his neck.

"So be it," Prime spoke up. "Arcee."

The femme nodded and followed the girl to the restroom. When they got there Siv stood there a second. "Do you have to come in with me?" she asked.

"No," Arcee answered. The bathroom was deep within the confines of the base and had no way out besides the one door the femme stood at. "Besides, I wouldn't fit anyway." In return, the femme got one of the biggest half-smiles the girl had given any of them before going through the door.

Once she took care of business and washed her hands the girl stood there gazing at the body she was wearing in the mirror. Strange… These human emotions and reactions. She had understood what this would mean before becoming one with the body but it still did not seem to fully prepare her for the actual experience. "And here I thought there were not many things left to surprise me," she nearly whispered to the reflection. To her right, in the bathroom wall itself, a vortex manifested much like the one she had appeared in. "Well, Autobots, you have your clue. Now to be fair." She walked through the vortex and was gone, unbeknownst to the occupants of the base.

~*~

It was not long after Arcee knew something was up. She called but received no answer. The femme had to run back to the main area to grab the boys seeing as she wouldn't even fit through the door. But when they checked to see if she was alright they found nothing.

"How could you have lost her?!" the medic shouted.

"She didn't get past me Ratchet," Arcee answered pretty mad at being singled out. "She went in there but never came out. End of story."

"Humans just don't disappear!"

"But she's not exactly human," Jack spoke up for his partner. "Who knows how many tricks Siv has." As if to answer the statement his phone went off in his pocket and he checked to see who it was. Surprisingly, it was from Miko's phone. "Siv just sent me a text message!"

"What's it say?" Raf questioned trying to read the phone himself even though Jack held it up too high.

"It says, 'I am sorry for leaving without a proper goodbye but I did not want to disrupt you with such formalities. I gave you all a chance it is only fair for me to give them one as well. Do not worry I will see you all soon. You may give me your answer then. Until we see each other again, Siv.'" Jack read aloud. A second later another message appeared. "'P.S. Ratchet, you may want to listen to Rafeal and learn a thing or two from him." When he was finished they all looked at each other. They had just lost their one chance of getting Miko back. But there was something else gnawing at them.

"What did she mean by giving 'them' a chance?" Rafeal found the voice to ask.

~*~

Meanwhile, over a hundred miles away.

A regular groundbirdge opened and Starcream, along with Knock Out and Breakdown stepped through. "Are you certain the signal came from here?" the lieutenant questioned them.

"Check your scanners yourself, lieutenant Starscream," the medic countered. "We should be within a few feet of it."

"We must locate it quickly," the seeker stated. "Before those accursed Autobots discover it." They all glanced around but found nothing but trees.

"I believe this is what you're looking for," a voice said above them. Up on a ridge was a human sitting upon a container of the exact same make the one the Autobots found. She did not seemed phased they were there in the slightest. Almost as if she had been waiting for them.

"What is this?" Starscream asked, menace beginning to lace his voice. "A lost Autobot pet perhaps?"

"Hea, Knock Out?" Breakdown mentioned. "Isn't that the same human that was with the rusting medic earlier?"

"Yes," Knock Out stared at her with a look that gave his partner pause. "Um, commander?"

"What?" Starscream was irritated as he was halfway up the ridge. "I would like to take off with the relic and this little vermin before our enemy discovers us."

**"Perhaps you should listen to what your medic has to say, scientist Starscream,"** the girl stated from her position.

He glared at the human with astonishment. No one, except for Megatron, Optimus Prime, and maybe Soundwave due to his knack for digging up information had known him by that profession. It was a title he had not been referred to since the beginning of the war. And this human had stated it in perfect seeker dialect. Something he had not heard since his trine mates were terminated. Knock Out and Breakdown stood there dumbfounded, most grounders would be lucky to pick up one or two words out of the seeker language.

To test her he spoke back to her in his native tongue, anger evident whether or not you understood what he was saying. "And why is that, pest?"

**"He knows I have information your lord may wish to acquire. And you will not get this relic out of its container without me,"** was her fluent answer.

In return, he glared at her and the two grounders waited his command.

~*~

Aboard the Nemesis.

"What is taking so long?" Megatron fumed from his position in the Nemesis control room.

"Commander Starscream has yet to report in, Lord Megatron," Dreadwing answered. "Shall I go to the coordinates and investigate?"

"That will not be necessary," a voice said as the door opened. In waltzed Starscream, in his right servo was a container. "The mission proved to be successful." Behind him stood Breakdown and Knock Out. It was then he noticed the medic held something in his own servos.

"And what else have you returned with, Starscream?" the Decepticon leader inquired.

"A souvenir of sorts," his second answered and Megatron tilted his helm a bit at the cryptic answer. The medic opened his servos enough for everyone in the room to see it was a young human. But not one they had seen before.

"And why, pray tell, did you bring a human aboard my ship?"

**"Lord Megatron,"** a voice said and everyone looked to find its source, only to be surprised when they found it to be the human. **"It is a pleasure meeting you. The Nemesis lives up to its name."**

"Well isn't this amusing," the tyrant laughed walking toward the group. "It appears the Autobots have a new pet and taught it a few tricks." Everyone in the room appeared to smirk at the comment. With the exception of Starscream, Knock Out, and Breakdown, they noticeably stayed quiet and rather somber. Megatron took the artifact from Starscream and attempted to pry it open. Even with all his might he proved unsuccessful. "Soundwave," he stated handing it over to the communications officer. The silent mech turned the container over with his tentacles while he scanned it. "Knock Out," he then turned to the medic, "Put your new toy down and aid Soundwave with the task of unlocking our prize."

"It requires an activation code, my Lord," Starscream spoke up while keeping his optics ahead.

All but the medic, his partner, and the girl looked at him. "And you know this how?" Megatron said suspiciously.

**"Because I told him,"** the girl stated. They all glanced to the child and couldn't help but notice how neutral she was being about having been captured and in the grasp, literally, of one of the Decepticon's sickest minds. **"I was the one who built it."** She glanced up at the red mech who held her and patted him on his servo. To everyone's shock he immediately set her gently on the ground. The girl gave him a half-smile before casually walking over to the tyrant and standing in front of him. She had to crane her neck to look up at him but did not seem bothered by it. Or the fact he was twenty or more times her size and could squish her like a bug.

"Ridiculous," Arachnid spoke up. "This human is clearly lying to save her own skin."

"Then how does she know one of our languages so fluently?" Dreadwing asked, intrigued by the whole ordeal.

"A clever Autobot ruse meant to save her," the she-spider was quick to answer. "I bet she knows where their base is. If my lord would permit me I would be more than willing to interrogate her."

She ignored the exchange going on around her and focused squarely on the mech in front of her. Megatron had seen the gaze of many optics, and eyes on some occasions. None of them, even the ones with dying lit in them, had held his attention as she did. She tilted her head to the side, much like he had. "May I?" The phrase was barely loud enough to be heard but it nearly made his spark stop. The dialect with which she had asked… It was the same he and his comrades had used in the gladiator pits of Kaon. It had been eons since he had last uttered it, or heard it pronounced by another.

His interest captured he placed the container on the floor next to her. Everyone in the room went utterly silent. No one dared move. The girl placed a hand on the metal and stated the exact same phrase she had detailed in front of the Autobots. Only instead of a human language, she used several different variations of cybertronian. All in the room recognized one dialect or another from the districts of cybertron which they had come from. When she was done the artifact lit up and the lid slide off.

It was then she cast her eyes upward to glance at each of them. "Would you like to play a game?"


	7. Someone's Clever

Back at the Autobot base.

"What are we gonna do now?" Bulkhead paced back and forth in the main room. Everyone else stood around trying to figure everything out. Siv had Miko and would only give her back if they answered her riddle. Which they currently couldn't answer because she wasn't there. They had no way of finding her or their lost friend. Though even if they did they had no way of knowing what kind of condition their little girl would actually be in or how to answer the damn question.

Jack and Raf had tried to text and call the phone, hoping to trace the signal, but every time they did it would just say the number didn't exist. There was nothing they could do and it was driving them all insane. Tensions ran high and everyone was on their last nerve.

"Must you keep pacing?" Ratchet asked typing away at his controls.

"Let's see," the Wrecker countered. "My partner's missing, we have no way of finding her or her kidnapper, and Jackie won't answer any of our comms. And the only way I might ever see Miko again is to answer a stupid question that makes no sense. I think best when I'm on the move so ya I am."

"What good would Wheeljack do in this situation anyway?" the medic countered. "Pounding cons isn't exactly philosophical."

"And typing away on that counsel is? The answer's not in there."

"Nor is it in your oversized helm."

"What did you say?"

"Break it up," Arcee stood between the two. "Bickering isn't going to help."

"We wouldn't be in this position if you hadn't let Siv get away," Ratchet taunted.

"And you could have done better?" the two-wheeler stated.

"Enough," Prime stepped in. "We do not have the time or energy to spend on fighting each other. Seeing as we cannot locate Siv or Miko it would be wise to attempt and answer the riddle. When we see Siv again it would be best if we had more answers to give her."

"What good is that going to do, Optimus?" Ratchet inquired. "We may never see her again if we cannot find her and even if we do she may simply be lying about having Miko."

"We have to try Ratchet," Jack added. "Right now that's all we can do." He glanced back at Raf who sat at his own computer typing away. Much like the medic he thought the answer might lie out there somewhere in cyberspace. So far he hadn't had any luck but the boy didn't look like he was going to give up anytime soon.

~*~

Inside the Nemesis.

"How is this possible?" Arachnid asked as the top officers stood around contemplating what had just occurred. Siv stood not far away staring out the window into the night sky, Vehicons on either side of her.

"That doesn't matter," Starscream spoke up. "What is important is that this vermin can not only speak our language but knows how to unlock cybertronian artifacts."

"I am not certain this is an ordinary human," Dreadwing stated. "She referred to having made these containers herself."

"That is correct honorable Dreadwing," she announced from her position. "Just as I created this body. Among other things."

"Such as?" Knock Out inquired.

"Let's say they are objects which could be of grave importance to your cause," she turned to face them again. "Such as all the relics found within Project Iacon."

"I find that hard to believe," the she-spider countered. "While your linguistic skills are impressive it is difficult to trust this is more than a clever trick."

"You are apt huntress, I will give you that," Siv was unphased by the noticeable doubt. She knew the Decepticons would be more difficult to convince than the Autobots and their charges. "However, if this really was a trick would I be able to do this?" She toke a few steps to the left and touched the side of one of the main panels with her hand. When she did the screen instantly lit up and cybertronian began scrolling across it in quick streams. Though it was too fast for anyone to read they could at least detect it to be ancient. When she removed her hand away the words, and any knowledge that might have been with them, vanished and the screen returned to normal.

They all stood there staring at her for a full five seconds before anyone said anything. "How did you do that?" Breakdown broke the silence.

"I can do many mysterious things ex-Wrecker."

"Do you really know the locations of all the relics?" Megatron stated more than asked. If she did it would save him, and more importantly Soundwave, the time of decoding the blasted thing.

"Yes, Megatronus, I do." Everyone froze and with good reason. The last to call their leader that had been Optimus when he was Orion Pax. He was a little surprised she referred to him as such but didn't let it show.

"Then?" Starscream prompted.

"Knowledge does not come without a price, **my scientist."** She had used seeker dialect for the last part so only a few of them knew what she said.

"What do you want in return?" Megatron said.

"All I ask for is an answer to a simple question. In return, you shall learn of some of the things I am knowledgeable of." She tilted her head to look between all of them. "And before you even ask, threatening me will not work. This is not my real form and if you kill it there will be no effect other than you losing this one chance."

All of them looked to their leader for what to do next. "We will play your little game. For now."

"Very well." She told them the same riddle she asked the bots. The reaction was the same with no one having the slightest clue. "Would you like a hint?"

"And what would that be?" Knock Out requested.

"My name, Siv Gma Torec."

"Then did you not just give us the answer?!" Starscream nearly shouted.

"You of all should know when to dig deeper, **Screamer,"** she kept her eyes on him and he found himself somehow comforted by her using his old nickname and unsettled at the same time.

Like the Autobots they gave her a variety of answers, some actually similar or the same to the bots. But none were correct. Eventually it grew to be the middle of the night and she yawned. "What was that?" the medic inquired. None of them spent a lot of time around humans so they had no idea what a yawn was.

"It is a signal of the lateness of the hour," Siv rubbed her eyes and they actually knew that universal gesture. "This form requires more recharge then yours."

Seeing as they weren't getting anywhere the warlord told some of the Vehicons to show her to one of the spare rooms. They then locked her in and had one con posted outside. Everyone else aboard the vessel had some form of work to accomplish. Vehicons tended their duties while Megatron and his top followers worked on unlocking the riddle. All of them vented, except Soundwave, because they knew it was going to be a long night and their lord wouldn't let them sleep until they figured it out.

~*~

There was no human bed in the room she had been given but she did not mind. She was perfectly content sleeping on the floor. But first… Siv pulled out the phone and made a call. "Hello? Are you there?" She paused and looked at her nails. "Yes, I know but I have to be fair. You know I cannot tell you who will figure it out first." A pause. "You already know who to watch. Do not worry he will arrive shortly." Another pause and she put some hair behind her ear. "No, I am afraid the cons do not have showers. Or human food. Yes, I am certain they do not have toilets either. But do not fear I will be fine." She yawned before continuing. "It is late and I can only block the transmission of this phone from the Nemesis for so long before they get suspicious."Siv stretched and one of her joints audibly 'popped'. "We will see one another soon but would you tell him I said 'hello'? Thank you. Well, good night. But make sure to keep watching because you haven't seen anything yet."

With that, Siv closed the phone and curled up into a ball on the floor. A small smile gracing her features as she fell asleep.

~*~

Autobot Outpost Omega One.

Everyone was beyond exhausted but they kept at it. Arcee and Bumblebee sat on the floor against two separate walls. Optimus stood straight up but appeared nearly dead on his feet. Ratchet was in front of the control panel and leaned heavily against it. Every now and then he slumped forward but caught himself before falling. Jack sat on the couch, the bots had tried to make the boys go to bed but they couldn't keep them from staying up it took way too much energy. Meanwhile, Raf sat at the table with his laptop and ran a hand through his ruffled hair. He was barely keeping his eyes open but kept typing to keep himself up. He had looked up everything he could think could pertain to Siv and her riddle. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. All he ever got were some pictures of tap-dancing monkeys or cute cats but that wasn't helping in the slightest. Rafeal slumped forward in his seat and barely caught himself before banging his head off his computer. He typed in Siv's name again to give his hands something to do… His drooping eyes peered at the words as his weary mind almost fell into unconsciousness again.

~*~

Nemesis.

Starscream stared blankly at his data pads strewn in front of him. Megatron had finally relented and let everyone go to their rooms to recharge. The seeker suspected it was for two reasons. One, Megatron knew they were exhausted and not going to produce anything resembling a coherent answer until they got some rest. And two, their lord was tired of their arguing and would have murdered them himself if they didn't get out of his sight.

Everyone else was probably deep in recharge but he couldn't help this nagging feeling he got from thinking about the little human. Not that he could actually define her as a human. Also, he knew if he wasn't the one to figure it out his lord would not only praise whoever it was that did so but would gloat in front of him. But he couldn't wrap his helm around it.

He dissected the riddle a million times but felt no closer to an answer. One thing he kept coming back to was the 13 she mentioned. It was the only number in the entire thing. 13… Could it have something to do with the original 13 Primes?

~*~

Autobot base.

Rafeal caught himself and stared at the screen suddenly wide alert. Could it be? It couldn't be that simple could it? His fingers began typing so fast it would have been difficult for even cybertronian optics to keep up.

~*~

Starscream's quarters.

The original 13 were somehow involved in this? How and why? Wait, she told them she has observed all and recorded. Who records? Maybe… Add in the fact she mentioned can be in two places at once and he dropped the data pad onto the floor. The screen cracked but he didn't care. There was only one being, besides Unicron who now slumbered, who could be in two places at once.

~*~

At the same time of Starscream and Rafeal's discoveries.

Siv awakened and went to the door. They had, of course, locked it. She almost chuckled as she waved her hand and it slid open without a problem. She waltzed right by the Vehicon without trouble and headed down the hall to her destination. "Well, who will be first?" she asked the air.

~*~

With Rafeal.

If someone's eyes could pop out of their head it would happened then. Rafeal felt his heart begin to race and it got hard to breathe. He couldn't be right… There was no way. But the evidence was staring him right in the face. He fixed his glasses and took a shaky breathe before he spoke. "Guys? You better come look at this!"

~*~

With Starscream.

The seeker raced down the hallways, nearly knocking into two Vehicons in the process. They were startled seeing their second-in-command up at this hour and barely managed to get out of his way. Normally, he would have stopped and yelled at them but he was in too much of a hurry. He burst into the main room and shouted at the nearest Vehicon manning the controls. "Get everyone in here now! Including Lord Megatron!"

"B-but sir!" the poor mech stammered.

"Just do it!" the seeker got right up in his face and screamed at the top of his voice.

~*~  
Rafeal.

They didn't appear to hear him so he tried again. Louder. "Guys!" all of them were startled awake and quickly got up.

"W-what?" Jack asked jumping off the couch.

"What is it?" the medic nearly shouted at being startled.

"You'd better get over here!" they were unnerved by the tone of anxiety Rafeal had. Bumblebee beeped worried for his charge and was the first to get over him.

~*~

Starscream.

"What is it?!" Megatron burst into the room and his demanding tone scared everyone else fully awake.

"Lieutenant Starscream was the one who called us here, Lord Megatron," Arachnid was quick to point out.

The Decepticon leader looked over to one of the side panels to see the seeker's frame leaning against it. "This had better be good Starscream," Megatron growled.

"I-it is my L-lord," the seeker stuttered. But Megatron knew something was off. He had heard Starscream stutter before, mostly from fear but this was something else.

~*~

Raf.

"Have you found something, Rafeal?" the Prime inquired.

"Yeah," the boy gulped before continuing. "I was thinking over how Siv gave us her name as a hint. Well, I looked it up and technically she doesn't exist. No birth records, school records, bills, nothing." He caught his breathe and continued. "Then I really thought about it. If this was a real riddle then the hint wouldn't be obvious like the answer. So, I stared at her name. I wasn't sure at first but I've seen some other people who made riddles do this a few times…"

"Do what, Raf?" Jack asked putting a hand on his friends shoulder.

~*~

Star.

"I have uncovered who this girl really is." The room was silent all of two seconds before he was bombarded with questions.

"Really?"

"Then who is she?"

"How did you figure it out?"

"SILENCE!" Megatron demanded and it quieted them. "Tell me Starscream, who is she then and how did you come about this?"

"I was working in my quarters when I went over that infernal riddle she gave us. A being who can be in two places at once. One who is connected to the number 13, as in the original 13 Primes. A being who can see all and record it as infinite knowledge. There is only one within all of our history that fits this description. But no one had ever recorded facing her. At least, not in the form she wears now." Suddenly, the seeker looked nearly vorns older. As if he was carrying a heavy invisible weight.

~*~

Autobots.

"I typed in her name and messed around with it. I rearranged the letters and all that. It wasn't hard. In fact, it was so easy I wonder why we didn't notice it before."

"Notice what?" Arcee inquired.

The boy held up his laptop for everyone else to see. "Look what her name spells."

~*~

Decepticons.

"Well?" Megatron was losing his patience and becoming annoyed.

"She is…" The seeker was shaking a bit but continued. "Vector Sigma."

The door opened behind them and there she stood. That half-smile on her face as she looked at all of the cons. Her gaze came to rest upon the seeker and she appeared to soften and her smile grew a little more. "You called me?"


	8. What Next?

The first to react was Starscream. To everyone's shock he knelt on the floor and turned his gaze down. "My lady," he said with nothing but reverence. She kept her gaze on him and lightly nodded her head.

"Rise **my scientist,** I do not require such shows of devotion," she stated.

"This is…" For once Arachnid was at a loss for words. "It's not possible! This girl is lying and you are a fool Starscream!" She activated the weapons in her hands and aimed them at Siv.

"You will not harm her!" the lieutenant replied and aimed his missiles at the she-spider.

"You would dare turn your weapons on Vector Sigma!" Dreadwing spoke up and pulled out his cannon, surprisingly joining the seeker's side.

"All of you stand down!" Megatron yelled. "That is an order!" Slowly, and while keeping firm optics on each other, they all lowered their weapons. "I am inclined to believe what Starscream says to be true. Only a being such as herself could have accomplished this and hold such knowledge." He took a few steps toward her and everyone froze. Some in nervous apprehension at what exactly their lord would do. After all, he took on Unicron the destroyer and lived to tell the tale. How would he react to her was anyone's guess. What he did blew everyone away.

He stood directly in front of her and kneeled down exactly as Starscream had. Immediately, all of them followed suit, except Arachnid. Dreadwing roughly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down threateningly. Reluctantly, she did so.

"Vector Sigma," the tyrant began, "wisest of the wise. Seer of all."

"You all may rise. Such as I said before, I have no need for such displays," she replied with her tone the same as ever.

One by one they rose, with Megatron being the last. "My lady, what may I ask are you doing upon this planet?"

"I am here concerning some serious matters Megatronus. I cannot go into great detail at the moment." She looked up at him and none of them really felt right about that. Vector Sigma was one of the greatest beings in the universe. She had witnessed the history of their planet, and the cosmos, before it had even been formed. She should not have to look up at them. As if sensing this it was Soundwave who stepped forward and kneeled in front of her offering his open palm. Siv nodded and stepped into his hand. "I thank you Soundwave, a fine warrior and now communications officer for the Decepticons." He did not reply in his own voice but played a voice recording of Knock Out saying, "No problem." Then a snippet of Starscream stating, "It was my honor, my liege."

"Great Vector Sigma," Knock Out spoke up. "If you will not tell us why you are here will you at least specify why you selected such a… Tiny form?"

"You do not have to choose your language with me medic. I know you all cannot truly stand the form I am wearing," she looked into all of their optics. It was odd, she didn't sound disappointed in them or let down. And Primus knew they had done their share of unsavory things in their lives. But, something about that statement had them feeling strangely ashamed. As if sensing this she tilted her head to the side and gently patted the side of Soundwave's palm, as if to comfort them all. "Once again I am limited at this time what I am able to relay to you. But I will say this, it was not a form you were excepting to see, now was it? Perhaps you should ask yourselves, why would I wear a human disguise instead of a cybertronian one?"

They all stayed silent and she knew they were going to contemplate what she had said. Siv cracked the knuckles in her hands and it noticeably startled most of them, seeing as it sounded like something breaking. "Do not fear," she assured them, "you all will have your answers soon enough. For now, we have other matters to attend to."

~*~

Autobot base.

"That isn't possible," Ratchet stuttered.

"It would answer a lot," Arcee said, half disbelieving herself.

"How could that even be a possibility?" Jack asked. "Me and Arcee went to Vector Sigma, it's a place not a person, isn't it?"

"Not necessarily," Optimus stated getting everyone's attention. "Not much knowledge exists of Vector Sigma. But lore has surrounded its existence since before the war."

"Back on Cybertron Vector Sigma was not only a connection to the knowledge of the Primes but was perhaps the greatest vessel of unlimited knowledge this universe has seen, excluding the Allspark," Ratchet explained.

"So Vector Sigma wasn't just a place on the map," Jack stated.

"Far from it," the medic continued. "More legends surround Vector Sigma than perhaps any other being in our history. It was said it was a computer directly hooked into Primus's being. Also, that it is a multiuniversal super computer."

"Multiuniversal?" Raf inquired.

"Yes," Prime took up. "It is speculated Vector Sigma exists across possibly every universe created."

"Wow," the young boy gulped.

"This might be out of our league," Jack scratched the back of his head.

"Didn't the cons try to bomb their way into it at the beginning of the war?" Bulkhead inquired.

"Yes, but since they didn't know where it was located they failed," the medic answered.

"Wasn't it rumored Vector Sigma held the location of ancient weapons?" Arcee asked.

Bumblebee interrupted with a series of beeps. Bulkhead nodded. "Bee's right. There were so many myths about that place anything could be possible."

"Even the fact she clearly took a human form, kidnapped Miko, and has been putting us through hell?" Jack more stated than asked.

"Yes," Optimus said after a beat.

"But we figured out the riddle," Raf put in. "When we see her again we can give Si… Vector Sigma the answer and get Miko back."

"Well there's nothing about Vector Sigma ever harming anyone without provocation," Arcee tried to be optimistic with that note.

"There's nothing about her taking a form to begin with and snatching anyone either," the Wrecker said. They were up against a being beyond their comprehension. She could do whatever she wanted and there was nothing they could do to stop her.

"Come on Bulkhead," the youngest boy said. "We'll get her back. Vector Sigma can't be that bad. She didn't hurt any of us so I'm beating Miko's fine." He fixed his glasses and gave the bot an encouraging smile.

Bulkhead attempted a smile back. If not for the boy's sake than his own. He couldn't think the worst; Miko needed him to be strong. "Yeah, you're right."

"Maybe figuring out what Vector Sigma left us will help us out," Jack said.

"I'm afraid I have no clue what it is," Ratchet walked over to the table where he had placed the item from the container. To all of them it was merely a piece of metal, with a faint tint of pink mixed in the color design. The only thing they could figure out about it was it appeared to be neatly cut in half. They had no idea where the other portion could be. "I've run over a dozen scans but nothing is significant at all. If I didn't know where it came from I would tell you it was a pile of scrap."

"There's probably something we're missing here too," Arcee stated.

"Maybe you'd be able to tell it if you had both halves," Rafeal noted.

"Perhaps Rafeal," the medic mumbled returning to his work. "Perhaps."

~*~

The Nemesis.

Five drones accompanied Vector Sigma at all times. Along with at least two top officers aboard the war vessel. Right now Dreadwing and Soundwave stood by her as she gazed out into the night sky through the command deck. They had tried to get her to explain what she needed to be done. In response, she merely told them she required them to fly to a certain set of coordinates. It was clear, however, she did not appear pleased asking. She was more apt to do things on her own but she wouldn't force them. Though it was clear she could have taken control of the ship with a flick of the wrist.

Megatron, along with his lieutenant, Knock Out and Breakdown stood nearby. They had already been there when she had chosen to come in. She was allowed to go anywhere on the ship, with guard, and could ask for whatever she needed. She only requested a tour of the vessel. It was a surprise, seeing as it was such a formality because she knew the layout herself. But they would not deny her.

They had been discussing what she had agreed to earlier. But she was Vector Sigma. They could not command her to do anything, nor would they. In fact, she seemed to bring out the best of the entire Decepticon crew. They were perfect gentlemechs and treated her like a queen. Only one who appeared a nuisance about the whole thing was the huntress. She had skulked off somewhere, still in denial, and no one had seen her since. This was the main reason for such a heavy guard. None of them were foolish enough to believe the spider wouldn't try something.

Suddenly, she turned her head to face them and began speaking. A bit surprising considering she rarely spoke except when someone talked to her first. "You do not have to worry. I do not break my word. You discovered my identity and now I must relay some of my knowledge to you."

"My lady," the seeker bowed before speaking. "You do not need to bow to such a silly agreement."

"I know where you are coming from, **my scientist.** But I promised you this and it was not a 'silly' agreement to me," she stated with a semi-smile.

"My second in command is right great Vector Sigma," the tyrant spoke up and also respectfully bowed to her before speaking. "You do not have to concern yourself with trivial matters."

"Come now, Megatronus," she said in return. "I know you would be pleased to have some of the knowledge I possess. There is no denying that." It was true; she knew them all far too well. "I will have to hold off giving you all of the information for a bit I'm afraid. But the set of coordinates I supplied you with should be a condolence for the time being." She turned and gazed back into the stars. Knowing all of them by heart, and which ones currently existed and the ones that were already gone.

"Where are we going exactly?" the medic asked kneeling.

"Why Knock Out," she turned to him and her smile spread a little. "I told you we would have fun and I meant it. I'm taking you to another piece of that relic you hold." They knew she was referring to the object in the vessel's vault. None of them had any idea what it was or its purpose, but they had not thought to ask her. After all, learning a legendary being said to be second to perhaps only the Allspark itself aboard your ship would distract anyone. "It will not work without all of the pieces."

~*~

Sometime later, at the Autobot base.

Jack and Raf were on the way to their rooms in the base. It was late/exceedingly early and all of them needed some sleep. Both of them yawned as the full weight of the situation hit them. Miko's parents/ host parents most likely noticed she was gone by now and were worried or called the cops. They knew their own folks would want them home tomorrow. Luckily Jack didn't have to work again for a few more days but even his mom liked to say hi before heading to work. Raf's own folks may be bogged down with his siblings but would enjoy having the entire family together at some point over the break. Which meant they wouldn't be able to help the bots for a day or two. It was bad considering Raf was the one who figured out who they were up against.

"Jack?" the younger boy said nearly dead on his feet.

"Yeah, Raf?" Jack didn't sound much better.

"What are we gonna do?"

Jack was a bit caught off by the question but knew he was probably being optimistic for the bots earlier. Primus knew Bulkhead needed a little hope. Before he could answer a buzzing sound filled the air and they realized it was one of their phones. Jack checked his put it wasn't lighting up. But Raf's face turned from exhausted and down to surprised. "What is it?" Jack asked.

"It's a text from Miko's phone," the boy replied reading. "It says, 'Congratulations Rafeal, and yes I know it was you who discovered who I really am. Clever. Do not worry; I will keep up my end of our bargain. But I need you all to do something first, don't fear it is not a trick nor is it anything big. All you have to do is go to the coordinates I sent to your computer. But it can wait until tomorrow. For now, all of you get some well-deserved sleep. You're going to need it.'" He paused and they shared a look before the phone lit up again. "'P.S. tell everyone I said hello.'"

"Guys!" both of them called down the hallway.

~*~

With the Decepticons.

Siv sat atop a bed; the cons had gone and retrieved the best human bed they could once they discovered who she was. She sunk a little into it from merely sitting there. While she was grateful for it she also stated how they did not need to get it for her because she was perfectly fine with the floor. Though she didn't press it too much because she knew they would never agree with her on that point. It was also why she had been able to take a shower and now wore what humans referred to as 'pajamas'. She knew what they were going to get for her so she made sure it wasn't as extravagant as what it was going to be. Instead of something expensive or made from some fine material, she only asked for a simple nightgown that came nearly to her knees. It was made from cotton, was black, and had little white clouds all over it.

It was comfortable and served its purpose in her opinion. Slowly, she got off the bed and walked to the door. She had taken her shoes and socks off earlier, the cons were having all of her clothes cleaned for her. Her barefeet barely made a sound on the cool metal floor. She opened the door and walked right past the armed guard outside, including Knock Out and Breakdown. No one stopped her as she continued down the hall and turned a few corners. After a couple minutes she was at her destination. Siv raised her hand and knocked on the door.

The sound of her tiny fist didn't make a loud noise but it roused who was in there. The door opened to reveal the huntress. When she looked down and noticed who was outside her quarters she hissed at her and frowned. "What are you doing here?" The she-spider glanced back and forth across the hall, like Megatron or anyone else would come around a corner any second.

"I know why you do not care for me huntress," was her response.

"Oh do you?" the con actually grabbed her roughly in her hand and raised her up to meet her deaths stare. "I could crush you right now and no one would be the wiser," she taunted. "What do you think about that?"

Siv didn't look bothered by the fact her ribs were being nearly crushed or the way the spider threatened her. Instead she raised her hand and placed it softly on the servo holding her. **"I know why you fear me child. I am not here to punish you for what you have done."** The huntress felt her servos and pedes almost weaken at the tone the human used. No she wouldn't fall for it, she squeezed harder. All of the wind was knocked from Siv's lungs but Arachnid still heard the voice loud and clear, almost as if it was in her helm. **"You chose to blind yourself because I stand for what you have ignored most of your existence. My huntress, I do not judge you for your actions. Others, even your own comrades, may fear, loathe, or misjudge you but I am not them. I know more about you than you do yourself. You cannot hide anything from me."** The femme felt her servo loosen and she fell to her knees in her doorway. She placed Siv on the ground in front of her but she did not back away. She took a step toward the con and Arachnid found she could not look away from Vector Sigma's intense gaze. **"You are a creature of darkness and I respect that. It is the path you have selected for yourself. You do not have to explain yourself or your actions. A time will come when you will meet the Allspark, but I can tell you huntress our creator is much like me. You will not be lost or forgotten."** With that said, Siv put her hand gently on the femme's servo. **"We both are here for you, and we will not abandon you."**

Arachnid dipped her head and vented softly. For the first time in her existence, she looked up at Siv and whispered, "I am sorry." There was no need for words as the two of them stayed where they were in the hall. Silence accompanied them as the ship sailed through the sky.

~*~

Elsewhere aboard the vessel.

"WHERE IS SHE!" Starscream yelled at the top of his vocals. He and Megatron had come to check upon Vector Sigma, and relieve Breakdown and Knock Out of their posts for the night. They had given her some privacy with keeping the door closed but they had opened it to see if she was alright. They had been greeted, to their horror and fury, with an empty room.

"HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO LOSE VECTOR SIGMA!" Megatron was equally as enraged.

"W-we," the medic stuttered to explain. "Lord Megatron! She never left the room and no one got past us!" Breakdown and the Vehicons nodded in agreement.

"Then how do you explain her disappearance?" the tyrant growled.

"If anything has happened to her…" Starscream threatened taking a step forward.

"Calm yourselves," her voice interrupted everyone and they froze. They turned to see her come around a corner being carried, with the greatest care, by none other than Arachnid. "I am not lost and they are not to blame."

"My lady!" the seeker sounded ecstatic as he bolted over to the femme ready to take her. He was stunned when Arachnid's near peaceful expression turned to absolute hatred as she hissed at him and held Siv closer to her frame. None of them would ever describe the huntress as the 'motherly' or 'caring' type but those were the words that came to mind when they saw how she held Vector Sigma and how protective she seemed to be. "What do you think you're doing, wench?"

**"Starscream,"** she said from the she-spider's arms. Her tone wasn't of disappointment or scolding but even as ever. It still made him pause and listen to her. "She is fine. We had a little discussion and she was escorting me back to my room."

"I will have the guards posted outside your quarters changed immediately," Megatron sneered at the cons and they cowered.

"Megatronus," she held his gaze. "They are not at fault. I have many abilities. I was able to take this form so it was not difficult to open a door and slip past a few of you." She patted Arachnid's servo and the femme softly set her on the floor. "Observe." One second they were all staring at her and the next she was gone. They checked their scanners but nothing was amiss. "While I tend to avoid deception," they still heard her voice from where she had been standing, "I am not above implying a few tricks here or there." The next moment she was right where she had been again. "It is not difficult for me to create a 'void' for myself where your systems are concerned. Or mask the noise and view of an opening and closing door. So no one is at fault, except for myself for misleading you. For that, I do apologize."

"You are not in the wrong great Vector Sigma," Megatron stated. "You may do as you please aboard this vessel, you need not explain yourself to us." At that Siv turned back to the femme and they shared a look before she turned back to address everyone else.

"Let us put the matter behind us then. We will arrive at the coordinates tomorrow, will we not?" she knew the answer but it felt like the courteous thing to do, for their sakes, to ask.

"That is correct, my lady," Starscream answered her.

"Good," she headed for her room and all of them got out of her way on instinct. "I suggest all of you get some recharge. You will need your strength and wits about you. I bid you all goodnight." With that the door slid closed but she could still hear all of them through the door as they replied to her 'goodnight' with a 'pleasant recharge'. It made her smile grow a little more before slowly disappearing altogether. "You all will need it. I wonder if you are ready." She plopped down on the bed and sighed. "I suppose the real question should be, am I?"


	9. Dig a Little Deeper

The ship was eerily silent, save for the faint hum of the engine or the light steps of the Vehicons which had duty. Siv slowly got up and stretched. It was around what humans would call nine in the morning. She was up fairly early considering she only got to sleep at three in the morning. But this body could handle only getting six hours of sleep and she had important matters to attend to. So she forced the body to get up out of the comfy bed and go to the door.

Siv didn't have any clothes to change into yet but she didn't mind running around in this nightgown. The door slid open and this time it was Dreadwing and Arachnid who were standing guard outside. Upon seeing her both bowed and the Vehicons behind them followed suit.

"Good morning, my lady," Dreadwing greeted her.

"Magnificent Vector Sigma," Arachnid added. "I trust you had a pleasant recharge?"

"I did, huntress. And you both? I hope you received enough rest."

"We did," the air commander stated. "We have not been up too long and there are enough of us we all were able to recharge a decent amount."

A tiny smile graced her face. "That is good to hear." Though she did not explicitly show emotions, they could tell something was off with Vector Sigma. It was as if her face held a certain heaviness about it and small bags formed under her eyes. They didn't know much about humans but they knew they had not been there the day before.

"Vector Sigma?" the she-spider inquired. "If you require more recharge you are more than welcome to go back into your room. We will not bother you."

"It is alright, huntress. I have things to do and can recharge later." They didn't look convinced so she changed the subject. "Would one of you care to escort me to the control deck?"

"I will go retrieve her some nourishment," Arachnid said, almost a bit sadly at leaving Siv.

"Then I will accompany her," Dreadwing offered her his hand and she gladly hoped on.

It took them a few minutes to get there and when they did she was not surprised to see Megatron, Soundwave, and Starscream. Upon her entering they bowed and greeted her. She nodded and greeted them back. Like the others they seemed to note she looked a little off. This nearly caused Starscream to have a fit.

"My lady?" he cautiously asked. "Are you feeling well?"

"I am perfectly fine, **my scientist,"** she answered.

He seemed at a loss for how to go about arguing with her. But she was too precious to let it simply drop. "Perhaps you would like more recharge? Or maybe that body requires some nourishment."

"Arachnid is already getting me something to consume," she answered, not the least bit bothered with the fact he had just disagreed with her. Or the fact he tried to cover it up. "I may not be used to this form but I do not its limits and what it needs." He almost appeared put off by what she said even thought she had not said it condescendingly or smugly. She knew she had upset the seeker and decided to try and make it right, even though she was not in the wrong she knew he cared deeply for her and her wellbeing. So she smiled at him and patted Dreadwing's servo. "Dreadwing? Would you mind it if you gave me to Starscream?"

Everyone appeared a bit surprised by her request for different reasons. None would deny her. "Of course not, my lady." He walked over to the lieutenant and gently handed her to the other seeker. "Thank you," she said to both of them. They nodded and Starscream held her as if she would shatter. "I am not going to break," she stated so only he could hear. Her smile seemed to calm him a little and all of them stood for a while in silence as she peered out the front to the sky. It was already orange but from this angle one could still see some remnants of the night off in the distance.

"Megatronus?" she finally spoke up. "Would you call the others in here?"

"As you desire, Vector Sigma," he replied. The others were paged and they all appeared in the room shortly after. Arachnid came bearing some food for her and stood to the side until Vector Sigma requested it. Breakdown came in a few minutes before Knock Out, who was caring her now clean clothes. She let out a deep breath before turning and facing them.

"We will be arriving at the coordinates soon. I tell you all to prepare yourselves. You may be facing more than you would expect."

"We will face whatever stands in our way and obliterate it," Megatron assured her.

"I know, but I felt a warning would not hurt in this case," she stated and they noticed her smile was completely vacant.

~*~

Autobot Base.

Jack mumbled in his sleep and tossed hearing something. He ignored it before thinking it was his alarm clock going off. He reached out to hit the snooze but his arm just hit empty air. The young man fought to find his nightstand but gave up after a few moments. That's when it hit him he wasn't at home. He was at the base. Then what was that noise?

It took his sleep clouded mind a couple seconds to figure out it was his cell. But he was still confused because his mom wouldn't call this early. He got his answer seeing it was another text from Miko's phone. He instantly shot up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes so he could read it accurately. It read, "Good morning, Jackson. I hope you slept well? In any case, today is the day. The bots will head to a location via the groundbridge. They are looking for another piece to the artifact you have in your possession. But they will not be alone. What I need you to do is very important, and none of the Autobots can know about it do you understand?"

Nothing popped up and he guessed she was waiting for an answer. He didn't want to keep anything from the bots. And she said they weren't going to be alone. Which meant they were going to face the cons… But what would happen if he told? Would they still get Miko back? He decided to see where she went with this. Jack texted back, "I understand."

It couldn't have been two seconds later when he received a reply. "Very well. Once they go through I need you to retrieve the artifact you have and go to my supplied coordinates. Do not worry; I will make sure you are not harmed. But this is your decision; I will not force you to do this if you do not want to. Either way, you will get Miko back." He paused and reread the message. It was almost like she could read his mind, but the others had said she knew basically everything. Maybe she could. But she also stated it was his decision. He could go tell the bots right then and they would still be able to save Miko. His phone made another nose, which surprised him seeing as he believed that was the end of the message. "While I do not like relying on others to do things for me, I must implore you to select carefully Jackson. This is important."

He felt a tug in his heart. She may have been putting them through hell but she wouldn't be asking him if it wasn't critical. She may have well been saying please with the last text. After all she was supposed to be this incredible practically supernatural being and she was asking the help of a sixteen year old boy? Sighing, he sent his reply. "I'll do it." There was another alert as she answered, "Thank you."

Stiffly, he got up and walked to the door before going into the hall. He tried to be as quiet as possible, not knowing who was up yet. Jack didn't really want to run into any of the bots, knowing he'd be keeping a secret from them. Surprisingly, Raf was in the hall too and nearly jumped when the older boy put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Whoa, take it easy, Raf," Jack said. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah." He knew the other boy had something weighing on his mind. Then, he thought about it, Siv said the bots couldn't know, but what about Raf? No, he couldn't weigh him down with the information. "Um, Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Did… Did you get a text, by chance?" Jack felt a shudder go through him.

"Why?"

"Well," he whipped out his phone and should him the message. It was a copy to the one Jack had received.

"I got the same one," Jack showed his own phone for confirmation.

"Are we really going through with it? I don't want to lie to the bots."

"We won't lie," Jack was trying to reassure himself as much as he was Raf. "We just won't tell them."

They started walking down the hallway. "It still doesn't make me feel any better about it," Rafeal admitted.

"Me neither."

~*~

The Nemesis.

Siv stood with them as they prepared to go through the groundbridge. However, they weren't going to let her go any farther than that. "I am sorry Vector Sigma but you must remain on the vessel," Megatron told her.

"I assure you I can handle myself. There is nothing on the other side of the bridge that will harm me," she countered. Of course, she had already known they would make her stay on board. But it was worth a shot.

"Nonetheless, my lady, we cannot risk you… Accidentally being harmed or captured by anyone," the seeker spoke up.

Siv knew everyone else was on the same level with Starscream, for once. "Very well, I know my presence would merely distract you from your goal. But I will tell you all to be careful."

"Your concern for us warms our sparks, glorious Vector Sigma," Knock Out said as they collectively went through. All of the top officers had gone, including Soundwave, so she was aboard the ship with only the Vehicons.

She knew what awaited them on the other side. She would not leave the ship… But that did not mean she would not be busy. Siv sent the message as she knew the Autobots went through their own vortex. "Now all I have to do is wait and see if they choose the path I have set for them."

~*~

Autobot Outpost Omega-One.

The bots, even Ratchet, had just run through the bridge when they got another message. "It is now or never," it read.

They typed in the new set of coordinates she sent them before looking at each other. "Let's go," Jack said holding the piece they had. Raf nodded and together they went through. They had no idea the groundbridge reset itself for the bots or would reopen once the bots commend the base automatically. The young boys had no way of predicting they wouldn't be coming back.

~*~

The Nemesis.

The Vehicons following Vector Sigma were a bit surprised when the groundbridge opened by itself and in walked two humans. Before they could act Siv stepped in.

"Jackson, Rafeal," she greeted them. "It is a pleasure to see you both again."

"Vector Sigma," Raf spoke up.

"Aw, I knew you would discover the real me," she went over and gently patted his head.

"You bridged us to the Nemesis?" Jack was suspicious, and with good reason. This was the enemy stronghold, not to mention there had to be five Vehicons right behind her.

She noticed his apprehension and turned to address the Vehicons. "They are not to be harmed while I am here. Is that understood?" she asked. It wasn't delivered in a threatening manner at all but something about it made the Vehicons shiver.

"Y-yes, my lady," one of them managed.

"Good." She gestured down the hall. "Now, let's go. There's another piece I have to show you." Seeing as they were aboard the enemy ship, with no way of reaching the bots, and were being followed closely by Vehicons, the boys decided to go with her. In their heads they couldn't help but think they made a grave mistake.

~*~

Hundreds of feet below the Decepticon vessel.

An epic fight broke out as the bots and cons discovered, at the same time, who they were up against. Their goal was pretty clear, seeing as another container sat plainly in front of them in a clearing. Only problem, getting to it without being blown to bits. The Autobots barely took cover behind some trees while the cons were lucky enough to have rocks.

~*~

Back on the vessel.

Siv stopped for a second, as if she heard something the others couldn't but continued walking after another moment. They reached what appeared to be a vault, and the door slid open with her silent command. Inside was the cons portion of the artifact, it looked exactly like the bots, only its exact opposite. As if they had been split down the middle. Suddenly, whatever had been holding it up seemed to be powering down and Siv looked to one of the Vehicons.

"Would you please hand me that?"

He nodded and did as she asked, surprised when she gave him a, "Thank you," afterwards. He bowed and said, "My pleasure, Vector Sigma." In return, he got a half-smile and a nod before she turned her attention back to the boys. "There's a reason your medic was not able to discern what this is," she told them holding out her hand. "May I?" Reluctantly, Jack handed over his piece and she held one in both of her hands. "You did not have all of the pieces." In a blinding motion she practically banged the pieces together and there was a blinding white light.

When everyone, including the cons, got their sight back she was now holding only one thing. The pieces seemed to fit together perfectly and Siv held that half-smile on her features. "What is it?" Raf had the courage to ask.

"Something that may give them a second chance. But that is their decision to make." Her smile faded and it looked like she held the entire weight of the world on her shoulders.

"Then what are the bots and cons after now?" Jack stated attempting to distract her.

She smiled a little at his question. "Well," she tilted the artifact around so they all could see the other side. It looked like a big piece was missing out of the front. "There's one more piece left. And they're grabbing it as we speak."

"Who exactly?" Jack inquired.

"The bots or cons?" Raf added.

Siv looked at them, and if there had been a camera she would have peered right into it, and the audience or this case readers. "No spoilers," she smiled.

~*~

In the field.

No noticeable progress had been made. There had been more than one attempt where someone ran right for it but had to retreat or lose a limb. Or their life. Finally, Arcee was able to sneak away and ran from the closest tree possible for the container. Her team covered her and she was the closest… But right before she could reach it Arachnid popped up from the ground and slammed right into her.

"I don't think so," the femme taunted and they wrestled around.

"Out of my way," Arcee replied delivering a nice uppercut that had the spider staggered back. Seeing her off balance she took the opportunity to distribute a swift roundhouse kick to the other femme's cranium. It knocked her aside but before Arcee could charge again she received a harsh punch to her stomach plating and was sent flying back about twenty feet.

Breakdown chuckled but didn't get to gloat as a familiar wrecking ball servo connected with his helm. "You alright 'Cee?" the Wrecker called keeping his optics on his opponent. "Peachy," he heard her reply. She got to her pedes but she only had moments to cooperate as the spider was up and at her again. By now the entire team was down in the field. Bumblebee was facing off against Knock Out, Optimus had Megatron, Ratchet had Dreadwing… Which left one seeker open to grab the container.

The older medic took notice of the second-in-command out of the corner of his optic. "Bulkhead!" he called. "A little busy here!" he yelled back as Breakdown brought his knee joint right into his stomach. "Arcee!" Ratchet tried. He didn't receive an answer but saw she was attempting to free one of her pedes from a small web and fend off the other femme at the same time. He happened to glance at Bumblebee but the scout wasn't fairing much better. And Optimus was grappling with Megatron so he had his own servos full. The medic knew Dreadwing was one of the top Decepticons in Megatron's arsenal. But Ratchet could hold his own. And if they were going to retrieve that artifact he was going to have to win.

Dreadwing kept his distance but he knew from the others what tactics the air commander employed. Which meant all he had to do was wait for the right moment.

~*~

Nemesis.

They stood in the Decepticon control room awaiting the outcome of the battle raging on bellow. The boys were nervous, no matter what Siv had told them. There was just something about the war ship that made them uneasy. Be it the dark colors, the numerous Vehicons milling about, or the fact their greatest enemies lived there. It was far from the welcoming base they had left. Vector Sigma was not blind to their apprehension, even though the boys hid it very well.

"Would some music lighten the mood?" she randomly asked them.

"What?" Jack was caught off guard.

"I know this place does not inspire confidence for you, and with good reason. I also know you fear for your friends below us. But worrying will not do them or you any good," she attempted to reassure them. By the looks on their faces her words didn't help much. She let out a sigh, "I am sorry," the statement caught them by surprise.

"For what?" Raf inquired.

"I am not an expert when it comes to emotions. I have recorded all since the Allspark brought me into being, but…" Her eyes were cast downwards. "I'm afraid for all my vast knowledge; I have hardly any experience when it comes to actually interacting with others." The admission shocked them. Here she was, one of the mightiest beings in the universe, and she was apologizing for not being able to cheer them up? It was hard for the two humans to wrap their heads around it. But when they thought about it, it made some sort of sense. Vector Sigma was supposed to be wise, and she was, but she had never really intermingled with anyone. Yeah, Jack had gone to her on Cybertron and had used the key to get Optimus back, but it's not like he talked to her or anything. In fact, the bots had said no one had ever really seen her before this. Which meant, that body wasn't the only thing new to her.

"Is this your first time feeling everything?" Jack finally asked.

"Yes," she admitted. "It is. This body allows me much more than my form on Cybertron did. And before you ask no, Jackson that was not my true form you interacted with. Merely, as you humans would say a data port for me to outlet my knowledge from." She paused to let the information digest before continuing. "My Cybertronian form allots me the power to record history before and as it is being unfolded throughout the varying cosmos. But for all that power and ability, I could not…" For once it looked like she was struggling for words. "I could not move. My consciousness could, but my 'body' was trapped. It could not truly 'feel' as you would say. Nor could it touch, taste, smell, see… For the longest time all I knew was knowledge, until one day I found why many considered me little more than a computer." Siv appeared to be gazing into the distance as if she were remembering something from long ago. It looked like she was showing the greatest amount of emotions they had seen from her since she arrived. And it looked like she was in pain. "But enough of that, I did not mean to burden you with my tales," her face went back to being neutral and she put that tiny smile on her face. "Now, how about some tunes?" Seeing as they didn't really want to see her upset again they let it drop.

"In the words of Miko," Jack began, "Why not?"

"We're already on the enemy ship," Raf put in. "Why not have some fun?" Siv smiled before she snapped her fingers and music started blaring throughout the ship.

~*~

On the battlefield.

Ratchet waited until Dreadwing began to get a bit overconfident. The air commander had been careful but after a couple goes he thought he had the old medic beat. Until, he transformed and flew at Ratchet thinking he would get him by surprise. Instead, he got the medic managing to leap high enough to grab onto his cockpit and flip himself on top of the con. Then he delivered some terrible blows, one being destroying the cockpit entirely, and causing the seeker to face plant right in the dirt. He leapt off his enemy and made a dash for Starscream as he managed to break off from where Optimus had kept him, and his lord at bay, to make a run for the container. His scalpels extended and before the seeker knew what happened he was right on him.

"I don't think so!" the medic yelled before the seeker could grab the artifact. But he received a swift blow to the side of his chestplate and was sent careening backwards. He managed to lift his helm up from the dirt in time to see Lazerbeak fly over him and back to Soundwave, who stood a few yards away. Somehow, with his helm reeling, he also saw Starscream grab the artifact.

"It appears you're losing your touch. Perhaps it would be best to send you to the scrapheap," the seeker taunted the fallen medic. But before he or Soundwave could carry out the threat, a rumbling could be heard.

~*~

The Decepticon Warship.

The boys had to admit it was rather funny that modern music was blaring throughout the alien vessel. It had also been amusing when the Vehicons had started freaking out until Vector Sigma told them what was going on. Both of the humans found it odd how the towering cons listened to Siv and seemed willing to bend to her every whim.

"Slash Monkey?" Jack inquired.

"I enjoy their tempo," she explained but Jack thought there was more to it than that. Then, Siv tilted her head to the side in that weird manner again and she snapped her fingers. The vessel appeared creepily quiet when the music shut off.

"What is it?" Rafeal asked.

"Come along boys," Siv got up from where she'd been sitting and headed toward the door. The boys, and Vehicons, got up and followed her.

"Where are we going?" Jack interjected as they followed her down the various hallways.

"To greet the others of course," she answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Others?" the boys gulped.

~*~

With the Bots and Cons.

The rumbling could be heard for miles around and shook the ground. All of them stopped to save themselves from losing their balance, the shaking was that bad. Megatron glanced over and noticed his second-in-command held what they wanted. "Decepticons!" he yelled getting in a cheap punch to Optimus's face before transforming, "We've got what we have come for! Back to the Nemesis!" Those that could fly transformed to escape the shaking ground while Knock Out and Breakdown also transformed or faced eating it into the ground.

Before he could issue the command, a groundbridge opened before the retreating cons and they all flew, or drove through. "No!" Arcee yelled at their retreating forms. Bumblebee and Bulkhead had been the closest but could barely keep their pedes under them, let alone stop all of the cons from fleeing.

"Autobots," Prime said managing to get to his own feet. "We must retreat." Bumblebee helped Ratchet to his feet as they commend the base for a groundbridge of their own. They knew they were no closer to getting Miko back than before, and the cons had snatched a possible important clue to retrieving their friend. They had been defeated, but they didn't know it was worse than they thought. After all, none of them knew they were coming back to an empty base.

~*~

With the Cons on the Nemesis.

They all came through and transformed. Most wore smirks due to how humiliated they had left the Autobots. They knew they probably could have finished them off it hadn't been for the random earthquake. "I see you were successful," a voice said below them and they looked near the groundbridge panel to see Vector Sigma waiting for them.

"Indeed we were, my lady," Starscream gloated holding up the container in front of him. It was then they saw two other figures standing a few feet behind her. They recognized them as the Autobot pets.

"What are they doing aboard my vessel?" Megatron glared at the Vehicon manning the groundbridge controls. The Vehicons shrugged and cowered under his lord's questioning glare.

"My my, hello Jack," the huntress hissed. "It's been awhile." She took a step forward but Siv held her hand up and the spider halted.

"I was the one who brought them here, Megatronus," she explained. "And as long as I am among you, no harm is to come to these boys. Am I clear?" She didn't threaten them, and her tone hadn't changed an octave. But there was something in the way she relayed that statement that held the cons stationary. Her eyes bore into them, not the eyes of a human, but of one who contained knowledge beyond what they could imagine. It was as if she bore into their very sparks and in nearly made them want to turn away from her. However, they weren't able to.

"O-of course, m-my magnificent lady," Knock Out somehow managed.

"Whatever you desire, Vector Sigma," Megatron bowed, and the others followed suit.

Her smile grew a bit and relief flooded their sparks. "Now I believe you have something of mine?" Without hesitation, Starscream laid the container in front of her. With a wave of her hand, the container opened and she reached in. She pulled out what appeared to be another piece of metal, not unlike the others. "Jackson?" she asked. A second later he handed her what appeared to be, not only their piece they had collected, but another fused to it. "You may want to cover your optics, or eyes," she warned. The next second, the Vehicons and boys knew what to expect so they did cover their faces, while the others were a bit too curious and watched as she clashed the piece to the larger one. It blinded their senses for a few seconds before they regained it. "I did warn you." They glanced down and saw she now held the complete artifact. It appeared to be in the shape of a key. But to what?

"You did well," she told the cons. They would have felt accomplished on their own but they felt pride well up in their sparks. Like they were sparklings being praised by their creator.

"What is it, great Vector Sigma?" the medic asked.

"Redemption, my medic," was her cryptic reply. "Oh, silly me. You all deserve your reward."

"What reward?" Jack inquired not liking where this was going.

"You see, I promised you Miko if you solved my riddle. I promised them something in return if they discovered who I was." She handed the object to the seeker who stood there not really knowing what to do with it. "And their reward is some of my knowledge."

"You can't!" Jack nearly yelled.

"Do you know what they'll do with it?" Raf sounded alarmed.

"I know, Rafeal. But I swore to them and I uphold my word." She turned to the closest panel and took a step toward it. Jack went to intercept her, like he was really going to stop her, but found his leg glued to the floor by a familiar web. He glanced over and saw the she-spider smirking at him. Vector Sigma said not to hurt them, but she never said anything about keeping them immobile. Raf stood there helpless knowing the same would happen to him if he made a move.

Vector Sigma stood at the panel and placed her hand on it. Immediately, Cybertronian scrolled across it and the cons became transfixed. Jack and Raf looked on in horror but happened to glance at Siv. Surprisingly, she was staring back at them and winked. The next second the text on the screen went began going by faster and faster. In fact, it went by at impossible speeds and the computer couldn't handle it. The lights began to flicker and a shock rocked the vessel.

"What's happening?" Megatron shouted.

A Vehicon at the control panel checked the systems. "It's the files, Lord Megatron. There's too much data for the ship to handle. It's destroying all of our systems."

Siv looked up at the chaos being introduced into the ships mainframe and how her knowledge was effectively taking over the most basic functions of the war vessel. She hid the smile that had previously been on her face and returned to a neutral one. "It is?" she more stated than asked. "Pity." She peered around the room and the ship's systems continued to shut down or short-circuit. "I believe you do not wish your ship to be destroyed. And to think this is not even a fraction of what I know. Oh well." She pulled her hand from the panel and the text stopped. Slowly, the lights came back on, the dangerous rocking stopped and the ship's functions returned to normal.

"Systems are stabilizing," the same Vehicon reported.

While the others weren't looking she flashed a smile at the boys before reverting to her normal face. "I am sorry but I do not believe any of you want to lose your base or fall out of the sky."

"It is not your fault, my lady," Starscream said. "Perhaps we are not ready for your wondrous knowledge."

"Wise words, **my seeker,"** she smiled. "But I do feel somewhat responsible. I do hope you'll forgive me." The question must have been rhetorical because a beeping alerted everyone to something on the main screen. Some text still remained. "For your trouble," she explained when they looked to her for an explanation. The text seemed to be another set of coordinates.

"Where are we going this time, my lady?" Dreadwing inquired.

"To another artifact?" the huntress added.

"No, but something far more important." She stopped and tilted her head toward one wall. A couple seconds past but she didn't say anything. "You may want to brace yourselves," she warned.

"What is it, magnificent Vector Sigma?" Soundwave played a recording of Knock out's voice.

"There are more problems here than you know of," she replied placing a hand on the panel. Before anyone could ask what that meant the ship leaned to the left side hard. It shocked everyone there and they barely had time to right themselves. Jack was fine, seeing as he was still webbed to the floor but Raf would have went flying… If Siv hadn't grabbed his hand and held him safely against her as she braced herself firmly on the floor. The next second the ship leaned heavily the other way and a few Vehicons went sailing. A few of the others, like Knock Out and Breakdown were forced to their knees.

"What's going on?" Knock Out asked gripped the nearest wall for support as the ship swayed back and forth.

"Report!" Megatron barked as he managed to keep his pedes under him, with much effort.

"It's a tornado, my liege!" a Vehicon answered holding onto the panel for dear life.

"Why were we not warned?" Starscream shouted.

"It appeared out of nowhere, lieutenant Starscream!" the con screamed as he was slammed against the screen as the ship titled to the other side.

"How is this possible?!" Raf yelled to be heard.

"It appears I have been discovered," Siv stated. She didn't shout like anyone else but her voice appeared to boom through the room anyway. Everyone regarded her from where they were.

"What do you mean?" Jack questioned from his position.

"Who found you?" Raf glanced up into her face.

None of them were prepared for her answer. "My brother."


	10. Throw in Some More Chaos

"Brother!" practically everyone in the room yelled.

She appeared unphased by their outbursts and looked at the Vehicon manning the controls. "STEVE1," she said, "steer the ship to the following coordinates." He did as instructed and the turbulence resided. Everyone got to their feet and Siv let Raf go so he could stand on his own. They then went over and helped Jack unglue himself from the floor.

"What do you mean your 'brother' found you?" Jack asked grateful to be able to move his leg again.

"You would be wise to watch your tone with Vector Sigma, vermin," Starscream glared at the boy. This mere human addressed her like he would one of his own kind. He had no right to talk to her in such a fashion, she was above the humans. And the cons were not afraid to admitting she was greater than them as well. She was Vector Sigma, the only one she served was the Allspark itself. At least they acted more accordingly around her. The other cons seemed to be on the same wavelength as him.

"And learn to address her properly," Knock Out added.

"He is perfectly fine," she stated without hesitation. "In fact, I would prefer it if you addressed me in the same manner." They all appeared nearly frozen at the statement. "I may possess more knowledge than you but we were all created by the Allspark. One of us is no less important than the other," she smiled at them and deep down they felt her words meant more than they realized. Before anyone could think of some sort of response she looked at the boys. "The answer to your question Jackson was in the riddle I gave all of you. Or do you not remember?"

It took them a second before Raf stated, "You said you had brothers who were sleeping. So…"

Realization began to creep in and none of them liked where this was going. Jack rubbed his eyes as he felt the beginning of a headache. "Don't tell me."

~*~

Autobot Base.

"Where are they?!" Arcee was basically frantic. The bots had come back but found their charges to be missing. They had searched the entire base but found no trace of them. When they checked the groundbridge the coordinates hadn't changed so the boys didn't go through. So why hadn't they been standing there like they should have been when they returned? They had attempted to call the boy's cells but got a wrong number tone every time.

Bumblebee was just as bad as the femme as he paced back and forth looking for his friend. They had even resorted to looking in places they knew the boys couldn't possibly be, like inside panels and under the couch. He let out a series of boops and beebs as he called out for Rafeal, but received no answer. "They couldn't have gotten far," the medic tried to sound optimistic but had a sinking feeling that no matter how hard they looked they wouldn't find the boys in the base. Another disconcerting note was the fact they couldn't find the fragment they had collected anywhere.

As if the universe decided to answer him at that exact moment the computer flickered to life as they received an incoming call. They were shocked and relieved to find it was Jack's number. Quickly, the medic answered but the femme was the first to speak. "Jack! Are you ok, where are you?" Bumblebee called out from behind her about his own charge even though the teenage boy wouldn't be able to understand him.

"Hello," a female voice said from the other side of the phone. They were stunned but recognized it immediately. "Siv!" Ratchet shouted. "What are you doing with Jack's phone?"

Arcee came closer to the screen. "What have you done with Jack?! Where are they?" Bumblebee added in his own piece and Siv patiently waited until he was done.

"Do not worry, the boys are with me and they are perfectly fine. I am sorry but they did me a favor. I am at fault so do not blame them."

"What are they doing with you?" Prime spoke up.

"And where exactly are you?" the medic put in.

There was silence at the other end of the line before she answered. "Please hold on a second and I'll let them answer your questions themselves." There was the sound of the phone being moved and talking in the background but none of them could make anything out.

"Guys?" a voice finally said into the receiver.

"Jack!" Arcee answered. "Are you alright, where are you? Are you…"

Before she could go on he interrupted her. "Hold on 'Cee. We're fine, and yes Raf's with me. We're safe with Siv."

"What happened?" the femme inquired.

There was a pause before, "Sorry. Siv texted me and Raf asking us for a favor. We weren't supposed to tell you guys. We thought she'd go back on her word if we didn't do what she asked… But I guess that's not really an excuse seeing as there's no doubt she was gonna keep her word whether we did it or not."

The bots could tell there was regret in the boy's voice. "It is alright, Jack" Optimus reassured him. "We are simply glad to know you are alright with Rafeal."

"Yeah," the boy continued. "We kinda took the artifact with us. But I swear we had no clue we wouldn't be coming back."

"Not coming back!" the medic shouted. "Jack, where are you exactly?"

There was no sound on the other end for a couple of seconds before they heard mumbling in the background. Unfortunately, they couldn't make any of it out. "Jack?" Arcee asked. "Are you still there?" Ratchet called into the line.

"Hold on," they finally got an answer. "Raf wants to talk to you guys." There was ruffling as they assumed the phone was handed off. "Hea," Raf's voice could be heard. "Sorry for worrying you. You alright, Bee?" The scout answered before being bombarded much like Jack had been. "Yeah, we didn't really know what Siv wanted us to do until she texted us right after you guys left."

"Rafeal," the medic was a bit exasperated at how both the boys had avoided answering one of the most crucial questions they'd asked. "Where are you?"

"Um… I'm not sure you'll like the answer Ratchet." The boy seemed uncertain and they heard someone talking to him.

"Who's that?" Ratchet asked.

"Oh, it's Jack and Siv. Jack asked me if I wanted to tell you guys or him. Siv offered to explain too but I got it." There was a dramatic pause for five seconds and they heard him take a deep breath. "You're not gonna believe this… But we're on the Nemesis."

It took all of two seconds before the base exploded. "WHAT?!" Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee nearly screamed into the receiver. Optimus didn't say anything but it was clear he was as shocked as the others. Ratchet rubbed the back of his helm and was rendered speechless.

"H-how could this have happened?!" the older mech finally burst out.

"Way to blow an eardrum guys," Rafeal replied and it sounded like he was holding the phone a bit away from him. "I told you they'd freak," they could hear Jack say in the background. "Let me speak to them," Siv's voice could be heard. "Are you sure?" Raf inquired and it actually sounded to them like he was worried about her being yelled at. Most of them wondered why seeing as it was her fault they were in such a position to begin with. "I will be fine, Rafeal," she answered and they assumed he handed her the phone because her voice was the one they heard next.

"To answer your question I opened a groundbridge using your systems and transported them here," she explained. "They are perfectly safe and will not be harmed."

"How could you do this?" Arcee was livid. "The minute you turn your back the cons will take advantage and use them for revenge." She was specifically thinking about the she-spider as she said it.

"I know where your concern stems from but I have made the Decepticons swear not to harm the boys while I walk among you," Siv replied. "They will not go against my wishes, and even if they do there will be dire consequences." Her tone didn't shift but a shiver ran through the Autobots at her statement. They knew she meant it. "Besides, I cannot 'turn my back' as you put it. I know all that is going on."

"Why take the boys?" the medic asked her. "You already have Miko. Couldn't you have retrieved the item yourself or sent one of the cons to do it for you?"

"As sharp as ever I see. I am afraid, my dear medic, I require the boys for more than merely the item they brought with them. I need them as witnesses."

"What in the pit does that mean?" the Wrecker spoke out. Her answers were just as cryptic as ever. "And when are you going to give Miko back? We solved your stupid riddle."

"In time, brave Wrecker. I promised you all you would receive her back safe and sound…" There was a pause and they felt their sparks drop. "But I never said when."

"You little…" But Siv cut him off.

"We must be going. There are other matters we must attend to. You will see the boys again soon, but first you must deal with your guests. One should be arriving any moment know," she stated without any doubt or hesitation. "Do tell them I said hello. I will be sending you some important information soon. Be ready for a fight." With that she must have held up the phone because they heard the boys both say, "Bye guys!" at the same time. The call was disconnected and the bots were left in surprise at losing the boys just like that.

"Jack!" Arcee called while Bumblebee did the same for Raf.

"Can you get the signal back?" the Wrecker asked the medic.

Ratchet banged his fist off the panel in frustration. "Blast it! It's gone again."

"We will get the boys and Miko back," Optimus informed his team. "Vector Sigma would not be protecting them if she were not concerned for their wellbeing.

"But she didn't say when she'd give us Miko," Bulkhead fumed. "What if she keeps her for a vorn, or longer?"

"We will deal with that when the time comes," the Prime tried to keep his team from freaking out or going on a tangent they were in no way prepared for. "For now we must wait until she sends the information she spoke of." Team Prime knew their leader was right but it didn't make them feel any better about it. They vented and the Wrecker was the first to address another issue. "What did she mean we had other things to deal with?"

"And why did she say we were having 'guests'?" the femme questioned. The next moment the proximity sensor went off and a voice came across their communication channel. "Prime!"

~*~

Aboard the Decepticon Warship.

"Think they're freaking out right now?" Raf asked.

"No doubt," Jack stated. "I kinda feel bad about leaving them hanging like that."

"Yeah," the younger one agreed. "But at least we got to call them and tell them we're alright."

"They will be fine," Siv said as they lounged on her enormous bed. "Want to listen to some music before we arrive at our latest location?"

"Sure," Jack shrugged. "But where are we going exactly?"

"You will see soon enough Jackson. I can promise neither one of you will be disappointed." She laid down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. After a few moments of not saying anything they knew she wasn't going to continue and decided to do the same as her. She snapped her fingers and music began blaring throughout the room. The music itself was up loud enough for them to enjoy it, but not enough to hurt their ears. Though they did feel the bed vibrate a little and knew anyone older than them, like their folks, would tell them to turn it down.

The boy's spirits fell a little thinking about their families. Jack knew his mother would eventually call the base asking where he was and why he wasn't home yet. He had no clue how Arcee and the rest of the team were going to deal with that. Raf was thinking along the same lines. His family still thought he was at a friend's house studying. When he didn't show up for dinner or answer his phone he knew his folks and siblings would freak out. Most likely they would call June and he felt horrible because what answer could she give them when her own son was missing?

Siv knew what they were thinking and she cranked the music up a little more. The boys were distracted from their thoughts as they listened to the lyrics.

**You're automatic and your heart's like an engine,**

**I die with every beat.**

**You're automatic and your voice is electric,**

**Why do I still believe?**

**It's automatic, every word in your letter.**

**A lie that makes me bleed.**

**It's automatic when you say things get better.**

**But they never...**

"Hea, Siv? Or…" Jack started.

"You may call me what you wish, Jackson," she said. "You know me as 'Siv' so you may call me that."

"Ok, well who's this artist? I don't think I've heard them before." Until then they'd listened to Slash Monkey, which they practically knew by heart because of Miko's obsession.

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**Why do I keep lovin' you?**

"They are called Tokio Hotel and this particular song is Automatic," she answered and they were surprised when they looked over and saw her bobbing her head to the beat.

**It's automatic counting cars on a crossroad.**

**They come and go like you.**

**It's automatic watching faces I don't know.**

**Erase the face of you.**

**It's automatic.**

**Systematic.**

**So traumatic.**

**You're automatic**

"Do you like this song?" Raf inquired.

"Yes, you could say I'm fond of this one," she replied and her smile grew a little more. The boys were a bit surprised that someone like her would enjoy a song created on earth. Who knew?

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**Why do I keep lovin' you?**

**Automatic.**

**Automatic.**

**Automatic.**

**Automatic.**

They noticed her smile vanished and her face changed. She actually looked sad and they could've sworn her eyes fell.

**Each step you make.**

**Each breath you take.**

**Your heart, your soul.**

**Remote-controlled**

**This life is so sick.**

**You're automatic to me**

"Siv?" Raf asked but he got no response and the music continued.

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**There's no real love in you.**

**Why do I keep lovin' you?**

"Vector Sigma?" Rafeal tried again. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" she appeared to come out of her trance and she looked at him. "Sorry, Rafeal I was simply thinking."

"About what?" this time Jack asked.

**Automatic (there's no real).**

**Automatic (love in you).**

**Automatic (why do I).**

**Automatic (keep lovin' you?).**

**Automatic...**

The song ended and the lack of music could almost be felt in their bones. "About days long ago," she answered. They glanced at her again and were beyond shocked to see a single tear streak down her face.

~*~

With the Autobots.

"What in the name of Uncle Sam's boxers is going on?" the agent asked walking in as angry looking as ever.

"What do you refer to agent Fowler?" Prime questioned knowing he had no idea the boys and Miko were being held hostage.

"I thought you killed the giant evil overlord currently inhabiting our planets core!" Seeing all of the bot's confused faces he sighed and rubbed his temples. Like he needed another long day. "I'm guessing none of you have seen the news lately?"

They shook their heads and Ratchet turned on a channel connected to their computer. They didn't have to wait long before they saw what he was talking about. The news woman went on about the freak tornados, hurricanes, giant waves, and earthquakes raking the globe. People went on about how it was the end of the world.

"See what I mean? I thought you took Unicron out."

"Apparently not," the medic mumbled listening for the telltale beat of the giant spark on the computer. Sure enough, it was there. And beating faster than they'd heard before. "It must be due to her presence. What else could have sparked it?"

"What do you mean 'her presence'?" the agent overheard. "Who are you talking about?"

They all looked at each other not really wanting to answer him. But by the look he gave them they weren't going to get away with it.

~*~

The Nemesis.

Siv got off the bed and walked toward the door. "You both remain here until I return. No one will bother you though, I swear." She appeared to be serious.

"Where are you going?" Raf questioned not liking the fact she was leaving them.

"To deal with a family problem," she answered disappearing through the door. "Soundwave," she said to the communications officer who had been standing outside guarding the door. "I need you to call everyone and have them meet us at the groundbridge terminal." He nodded and Knock Out bowed to her level before asking.

"What are we going to be doing, my fabulous lady?"

"We are going on a little trip," she answered.

A few moments later they were gathered at the panel. "I will not ask you to accompany me. It is dangerous and I cannot guarantee your safety. But you must know I will not look down on you for not going." She looked to them already knowing what their answers would be. Still, it didn't hurt to give them some options.

"We will go with you, my lady," Starscream answered bowing before her.

"We do not fear what lies ahead of us," Megatron told her. "Your wellbeing is our priority above all else. Where you go we will follow."

"I appreciate your concern and devotion Megatronus," she turned to the rest of them. "I thank all of you." They felt their sparks swell with the sentiment and felt elated when she smiled at them. "STEVE1?" she turned to the nearest Vehicon. "I have an important job for you while we are gone."

He bowed and remained kneeling as he stated, "Whatever you desire, my lady."

"I need you to guard the boys while I am gone. No harm is to come to them. Understood?"

"Perfectly, great Vector Sigma."

She smiled at him and actually patted his servo so he would look up at her. "Thank you." Before anyone could reply she began heading for the groundbridge. "Shall we?"

~*~

Back with the Bots.

"So you're telling me there is another being here on earth, who has practically all the knowledge of the cosmos at her disposal, taken a human form, and kidnapped all of the kids? One you have no clue where she could be and the boys are on the enemy ship." He rubbed his temples and felt a headache coming on. "Why wasn't I informed about this before?"

"There is nothing you or anyone on earth could have done," Prime explained. "Vector Sigma is even a mystery to us. No one can predict what she is capable of or her reasoning."

"Sounds to me like she's been leading you all on a wild goose chase. And to top it off Unicron's awake and as lively as ever." He leaned against the computer trying to take it all in. "The boys at the Pentagon are gonna have a field day with this. Have you at least contacted Mrs. Darby and told her what's going on?"

They avoided his gaze but Arcee spoke up. "We just figured out the boys were taken and we don't want to worry her."

"Yeah, well that's going to fly out the window when she calls or comes looking for her son. I have no idea what the Esquivel's or Nakadai's are going through!" he had valid points but the bots hadn't had time to think that far ahead. "This is just great. So how are we going to deal with this?" As if the universe decided to mock them the entire base shook and the bots, along with the human gripping the railing for dear life, held on as a tremor rocked the very foundation. The worst part was, they knew there was nothing they could do about it.

~*~

At an unknown location deep within the earth.

Megatron, and the rest of his top officers were the first to step through the vortex. All of them kept a look out as Starscream came through the portal last holding Siv close to his chestplating. All of them had their weapons trained for any problems and formed a protective circle around her. She was unemotional as ever and trained her line of sight directly ahead of her, like she could see something they couldn't.

A rumbling shook the ground and they looked around waiting for trouble. It soon found them as copies of the chaos bringer formed around them throughout the cavern they stood in. There were thirteen exactly and they were twice the size of those Optimus and his team had first squared off with. All of them faced the group of Decepticons with murderous looks as they spoke in one untied, but nonetheless terrifying voice, "Where is Vector Sigma?" they demanded. "Where is my sister?"

Siv looked on from her position in the lieutenants servos. Instinctively, the seeker clutched her tighter to his chest. She didn't appear phased by the number of versions her brother had created, nor the fact he apparently hadn't noticed her in this form. "Why hello to you too dear brother," she replied.


	11. We're Off to Cybertron!

Unfortunately for the cons it didn't seem as if the variations of the chaos bringer heard her, or if they did they still did not see her as Vector Sigma. The replications charged the cons and they fired with everything they had. "Protect, Vector Sigma!" Megatron yelled at his officers. They kept the protective circle around her but it faultered here and there as the Decepticons were forced to move in order to fire or avoid being crushed.

"You will tell me where she is!" Unicron spoke through the stone figures. Arachnid was able to web one's legs while Knock Out and Breakdown took the chance to blast the stone to bits. However, another quickly took its place and they were forced to scatter. Dreadwing used one of his bombs on one's back but it only cracked it. The following second Megatron leapt and kicked the stone fighter right in its chest. Causing it to shatter into a million tiny bits.

Siv took in entire sight and couldn't help but let out a small sigh. Her brother always was one for dramatics. She did not mind it but she would not stand for any of the cons being injured or killed. She looked up to the seeker as he blasted the nearest version of Unicron with his missiles. Vector Sigma observed the scientist and knew he would not put her down. Siv did not want to harm him, physically or mentally, but she did not have much choice at the moment. **"Starscream,"** she said and immediately got his attention.

**"I am sorry for this,"** she apologized before gently touching his servo. The next second his optics dimmed and he slumped forward until he fell to his knee joints. She carefully slipped out of his servos and the instant she did he sprung back to life. "Wha-what!" he panicked seeing she was not safely in his grasp. He did however see her on the ground a few yards away. "My lady!" he called to her. **"Sorry, my seeker,"** he heard her voice over the battle raging on around them. "But this is something I must do alone." With that she disappeared from his vision. "MY LADY!"

~*~

Back at the Autobot base.

The bots and agent Fowler held on to what was closest for them as the base continued to shake. It had been made for governmental emergencies, like bombings, but not for such a harsh earthquake. Dust flew everywhere and the overhead lights swung back and forth while flickering. Suddenly, their computer binged signaling an incoming call. Ratchet looked up from where he was practically glued to the panel and saw who it was. He somehow managed to hit the button. "Wheeljack!" he basically yelled.

The Wrecker was a bit taken aback by the medic's tone of voice. "Uh hea Ratchet. What's goin' on? I only got a piece of the message you guys sent out."

"We're experiencing s-some difficulties!"

"I don't think the roof's gonna take much more!" Bulkhead called going down.

"Bulkhead?" his friend said, utterly confused what was happening on the other end of the line. "What in the pit is goin' on there? You all under attack?"

"N-no!" the medic slammed off the panel but managed to keep his grip. "B-but we are having a-an earth...Quake!"

Wheeljack was silent for a few moments, looking up what an earthquake was exactly before he answered. "I'm only a few clicks from your base. I'll be there soon."

"No Jackie!" Bulkhead warned managing to get to his pedes. "You won't be able to land here."

"You'll have to wait until it s-subsides," Ratchet stuttered. The next second a tremor rocked the base enough to bang the medic off the computer panel and he fell to the floor. On the other end the demolition expert got a bunch of garbled static and voices he couldn't clearly distinguish. "Bulk!" he called but got no answer. "Ratchet," he tried.

"Wheel… Jackie sta… Can't…" and with that the line went dead.

~*~

With the Decepticons.

Seeing as it was Starscream, and he was probably the most upset he had been in his entire existence, all of the others were able to hear his outburst over all the insanity. "VECTOR SIGMA IS GONE!" he told them.

"How in the pit did you lose her?!" Arachnid yelled.

"She vanished!" the seeker replied as he searched for any sign of her. "We must find her!" The others didn't really need to be told but it was difficult to look for such a small figure when you're fighting for your life against beings not only twice your size but also made out of stone.

So it wasn't surprising when Knock Out and Breakdown got clonked by one of the mini Unicrons. "I will end all who stand in my path!" Unicron said right before he brought his spiked servo down on the medic. Before he did Siv appeared in front of the fallen mech and put her hand up. VECTOR SIGMA!" Dreadwing shouted. **"MY LADY!"** Starscream screeched. All of them watched in horror as the servo was right above her tiny form. It would obliterate her in a second and none of them would be able to get to her in time.

"Unicron!" she actually raised her voice and it seemed to boom not only through the cavern but into their very beings. "You will not harm them, brother."

The servo instantly halted and the stone version stood there completely still. He slowly moved his servo and stared down at the tiny form before him. Then, he did something no one expected. He knelt in front of her and peered into her face. "Vector Sigma?" he asked her.

"It is I, brother," she answered.

The next thing nearly made everyone's spark stop as he bowed his head to her. "I apologize, dear sister. I did not recognize you in that form."

"It is fine," she smiled at him and he slowly glanced back up, or really down due to the height difference, at her. "One reason I chose this body was so I would have some time here before you discovered my presence. It is I who should apologize for not coming to you sooner." She bowed in return.

"But you have been with him for eons," he stated. He didn't sneer at her but they could detect the hatred in the statement. The cons inched closer to her in case the worst. When it came to her relationship with Primus and Unicron's hatred for his brother… No one was sure what the chaos bringer would do.

She did not appear phased by his statement but tilted her head slightly. "Come now brother, I do not pick favorites. I care for you both equally. And it was our creator's will I remain on Cybertron. It was not my choosing our brother inhabits that planet's core along with myself. I would have gladly remained with you. But remember I have not left you brother and I never will." Siv took a couple steps forward and patted the stone figure's servo. "Did you not feel my presence with you when you awoke not long ago?"

Unicron looked at her and his expression changed immediately. "I did not mean to insult you, sister. You are right, all these vorns and you have not abandoned me. Nor will you. It was not your decision to remain with our brother…" He moved his servo a bit but merely patted her shoulder, the best he could do with them in their current forms. He did not want to crush her. "I should be glad to be in your presence once again."

"You did not insult me," she told him patting the servo. "And I know I am elated to be able to converse freely again with you brother," she smiled more than she had the entire time she'd been with anyone else.

"I see you brought company, sister," the chaos bringer looked to the cons. "Ah, if it isn't my traitorous servant. Come to end my consciousness once again?"

"Unicron," Siv said putting herself between that one incarnation of him and the cons. "I will not have you insult them. They are accompanying me on an important mission."

He looked between her and the cons. "Very well," his voice boomed. "For you I will hold my glossa, sister." The Decepticons were speechless, never had they heard anyone say Unicron listened or bowed down to anyone. They assumed the Allspark because it was superior to everything, but they had no clue Vector Sigma had such high esteem in the universal tyrant's spark. Then again, until that day they had no clue Vector Sigma was Unicron and Primus's sibling.

Her face fell and her brother took instant notice. "What trouble's you beloved sister? You would not be here on this planet if it were not important."

"I admit, dear brother I did not come here in this form and walk among the Cybertronian and human inhabitants of this planet simply to visit." From there she spoke in a tongue none of the cons could recognize. It was cybertronian, they felt that much, but it was ancient. Though they had no clue what she was saying whatever it was had the stone fighter's apt attention. He nodded before replying in the same tongue. This continued for a few more moments before they were surprised as the stone figures not already destroyed crumbled on their own and returned into the earth from where they had sprung forth. Siv said one more thing before she nodded in their direction and to the utter and complete shock of everyone she stepped forward and hugged her brother's leg. The only part, that wasn't pointy, she could reach.

"I will miss you, brother," they heard her say. "I may not be in this form but I will be watching over you and await for your return." In return, the harbinger of doom took his less threatening servo and patted her back. Even though he was being careful they could tell it still knocked the wind out of her.

"I will enjoy seeing you again," he rumbled. "Until then I will do as you ask and continue my slumber. Because you asked it of me, precious sister."

"I would not if it were not necessary for the future," from where he had managed to get to his pedes Knock Out saw a glint of water come down Siv's face. The others wouldn't have been able to see it from where they stood further away.

"Decepticons!" Unicron hollered. "I am not certain why my sister seems to care for you. But I swear to you this; if any harm befalls Vector Sigma I will personally dismantle every one of you and devour your sparks repeatedly in the pit!" He glanced back down at her one more time as she slowly let go of him and took a few steps back.

"You always were one for strong words, brother," Siv smiled up at him covertly whipping away the tears from her eyes. "But I believe they were going to guard me with their very sparks before you threatened them."

"It could not hurt for them to know the repercussions if they were to fail," as he said this the last incarnation slowly fell, bit by bit, into the dirt below.

"Until we see one another again, Unicron," she said as he was nearly gone. "But I will be here waiting for you."

He actually gave her a small smile; yes not a smirk or a sneer, but a genuine smile. "But we will meet long before we see each other, Vector Sigma. You reminded me of that." Finally, he disappeared and the earth settled back to where it had originally been. "Until all are one, treasured sister," they heard his voice fade away.

"Until all are one, dear brother." They were all left standing there as the dust settled and no one moved. The silence seemed to echo through the cavern and Siv continued to merely stand there staring into the same spot where Unicron had been. If they didn't know better it was almost as if she were going to remain as still as stone herself waiting for him to return.

~*~

Autobots.

The tremors suddenly ceased and everyone groaned as they got to their pedes. Optimus had to help Ratchet up while Bumblebee and Arcee got Bulkhead. Agent Fowler let go of the railing but still shook a bit as he fixed his tie and suit. "What in the name of Benjamin Franklin's beard just happened?"

Ratchet had to take a second to collect his helm before he wobbled to the control panel and type a few things in. "I don't believe it," he said.

"What now?" Arcee grumbled.

"Everything's ceased," he scanned all of the news channels and found every act of nature had completely halted and a peace had settled. He then made sure to double check the scans. "And even Unicron's sparkbeat has gone back to what it was before he awoke."

"How could that have happened?" Bulkhead asked. "Optimus didn't even see him this time."

"Could something else have stopped him?" the human questioned.

"Maybe not something but someone," the Prime told them.

Bumblebee beeped a couple times and the medic was on his side. "Bumblebee's right, why would she…" Before he could completely the sentence their computer indicated they had received a message.

"Is it Jackie?" the Wrecker inquired knowing his friend would probably be worried seeing as they had cut his last communications attempt off.

"No," none of them cared for the older mech's tone. "It's a message from Vector Sigma."

"The one who got the doom bringer all hipped up to begin with?" Agent Fowler asked. "What does she want now, a tea party?"

"It says; 'I am sorry for awakening my brother. But do not worry, he is returning to his slumber and will remain so until the Allspark deems it time for him to come forth once again. The boys are still safe and will remain under my care and protection until we next meet. Which will be very soon before you can inquire. Follow these coordinates, and this means all of you, including Wheeljack who shall be joining you shortly. I will leave the door open for you. Until then, goodbye.'"

All of them stood there for a second taking in the message. Then another beep was heard and Ratchet read out loud again; "P.S. Hello Agent Fowler. I am sorry that we are not meeting face-to-face but perhaps one day we will. I wanted to tell you keep up the good work and don't be afraid to take a vacation once and a while. You deserve it."

The first to say anything was said stunned agent, "Well I'll be triple dipped."

~*~

The Nemesis.

The boys got off the bed as the door opened and in walked Vector Sigma. While they could not say she appeared sad they knew she'd had better days. "Hello boys," she stated in the unwavering voice. One could get used to the steadiness of it. "You will be glad to hear my brother has returned to his slumber and will remain there."

"Well that's good to hear," Jack said. They noticed her almost pained expression and felt a tug on their hearts.

"You're going to miss him, aren't you?" Rafeal gently asked her. He had spent enough time with and apart from his siblings to know that look. It meant loneliness and silent suffering you didn't want anyone else to know about.

"Yes," she answered trying to keep a soft smile on her face. "I will. You all see him as the harbinger of death and destruction. I admit he has done many things in his existence I do not approve of or agree with. And I know he will one day do similar things again. But…"

"He's still your brother," the young boy walked over and lightly took her hand in his for reassurance. "And you'll love him no matter what."

Both boys caught sight of a glint in her eyes but it disappeared as she closed them and nodded. "You are wise beyond your years Rafeal," she told him. Siv opened them and glanced over to Jack, seeing as he had no real knowledge when it came to the entire sibling matter she did not want to leave him out. "And you, Jackson, are brave beyond your time." He smiled at her and nervously scratched the back of his neck. Vector Sigma kept eye contact with both of them as she made her announcement. "It is because of this I am asking you to accompany me."

"Where?" the younger boy inquired.

"It's a surprise," she actually giggled. "Come on, before we leave I have a couple gifts for you." Raf kept ahold of her hand and she didn't seem to mind. The boys followed her into the hallway. They couldn't help but smile at her happy demeanor. Too bad it wasn't going to last but she wasn't going to spoil the moment.

~*~

Autobot Outpost Omega-One.

"You're tellin' me we're up against Vector Sigma?" Wheeljack had arrived not long ago and they had filled the Wrecker in.

"Wish we weren't but we are," Bulkhead told him.

"What are we waitin' for then?" the Wrecker said nonplused by the whole story. "I say we storm the ship, grab the boys and Sigma. Then we make her cough up our little girl when we get back here."

"We have no idea where the Nemesis is," Ratchet interrupted.

"And I don't think there's anything we could do to get Vector Sigma to hand Miko over," Arcee stated. "She said we could kill that body and it wouldn't affect her actual form back on Cybertron."

"Yeah but even the toughest cons squeal if they see one of these," he waved a bomb around.

"You're thinking of threatening a being who existed before our very planet!" the medic scoffed. "Brilliant. That's going to work."

"I don't see you contributing any ideas Doc-bot. You sayin' we just let her run around with the boys and our little Miko?"

"Blind stupidity isn't going to magically fix it," Ratchet was practically at wits end. "All we can do is wait for Vector Sigma's next move. Until then we're…"

A bing interrupted him and everyone looked at the screen expectantly. "That her?" Wheeljack asked.

"Yes," Prime said. "Ratchet?"

"It says, 'Be ready to move. And Wheeljack, it will be a pleasure meeting you personally.'"

The Wrecker's face registered shock for all of two seconds before he smirked and clashed his knuckles together. "Can't wait."

~*~

The Nemesis.

"What do you think?" she inquired as they looked over her handy work.

"They're nice," Raf complemented fixing his glasses.

Meanwhile, Jack held his up to look at him better. His was blue while Raf's was a nice tinted orange color. Both appeared to be the boy's exact sizes and would be easy to move around in. "Where'd you get these anyway? The one Fowler gave me is completely different from these." Where the other suit had been blocky this one looked almost retro with globe type helmets that seemed to screw on, but the oxygen tanks were lighter and they weren't as weighty as the other he'd worn.

"I created them," she answered putting her own on. Hers ways the same style as the other two but was black with white outlines. "It was not difficult."

"Where are we going that we need spacesuits?" Rafeal inquired holding his helmet.

"The moon?" Jack questioned.

"No," she smiled zipping up. "But you've been there once before Jackson." Both of them stared at her with stunned expressions and she put her gloves in place.

"We.. we're…" Jack stuttered.

"You m-mean?" Raf began.

"Yes boys," she stated grabbing her helmet. "We're off to Cybertron."


	12. Why

Cybertron.

The cons went through first, followed by the boys, and the last to step out was Siv. She paused and let the boys stare as long as they wanted to. Jack may have been there before but not this part of it. Besides, it was still an alien planet. Siv remembered her first few steps onto earth. Although she knew everything about the planet, what it was made of, all of its inhabitants, still… Everything had been new and strange. It was exhilarating. Even though she was inside of cybertron along with her brother Primus this was still her first time actually stepping foot on the surface. She couldn't hide her smile for very long.

"This is amazing!" Raf said looking around.

"This will never get old," Jack agreed.

"It is wondrous is it not?" Siv stated. But as she said it her smile faded and the boys noticed a drop in her tone. It was barely there but if they hadn't been used to her monotone voice they would have written it off. "I only wish you could have seen it during the golden ages. Now that was something." The atmosphere of the planet struck both of the youths then. They had been so hipped up about seeing the alien planet they almost forgot it was so decimated. But as they looked about again the gravity of the situation began to sink in. What must've been buildings were now piles of impressive ruble. Debris littered where they stood and the landscape was a mixture of greys, browns, and blacks. The planet looked dead, and it wasn't hard to imagine they would be the only ones on the entire world.

"But enough of that, we must be off," she quickly changed the subject. "Soundwave?" she inquired to the communications officer. "You have the coordinates locked on the desired location?"

"Affirmative," came a snippet from Dreadwing. "The location is Iacon," sounded Megatron's voice. Most of the cons gave looks that meant, 'Iacon, what could be there they hadn't already been through?'

"You will see shortly," was her answer to the unasked question. "We should get going," but they could tell it was almost hard for her to get the words out. It was almost as if she forced herself forward.

~*~

Autobots.

They typed in the coordinates at the designated time and had their weapons drawn when they exited the other side. To their shock they were at the most recent location of the Decepticon groundbridge. Before Optimus could even issue a command they saw the Vehicons. They were all on the ground in slumped over positions.

The bots were weary it could be a trick and Wheeljack lobbed one of his bombs, not even set to detonate. But all anyone else would see would be a bomb coming at them. None of the cons moved or even twitched. Ratchet slowly went over to the nearest one, with the rest of the team right behind him. He did a quick scan before looking up dumbfounded at his comrades.

"He's in deep recharge," the medic told them.

"What?" Bulkhead asked.

"Explains why none of them ran for it when I tossed this baby," Wheeljack picked his bomb back off the ground.

To test it Bumblebee waved his servo in front of a separate cons face but got no response. Arcee snatched his servo back and gave him a 'What the hell do you think you're doing?' look. "Then shouldn't we be as quiet as possible," she lowered her voice.

"That will not be a problem," Ratchet reassured. "They're all in such a deep cycle they wouldn't wake even if we exploded their spacebridge."

"Could be an easy time to take 'em out," Wheeljack offered.

A beeping interrupted their thoughts and they turned a corner to see the control panel. "What is it?" Prime inquired as Ratchet typed at the keys.

"Another message from Vector Sigma," he answered. "It reads, 'I left the door open for you so what are you waiting for? And yes I placed those solders in the state they are in to save them, and you all, a confrontation. Do not even think of harming them in anyway. That means you, Wheeljack. You had better hurry or you'll miss the party.'" With that the bridge activated on its own and they all glanced at the vortex.

~*~

Outskirts of Iacon.

The boys found it weird to be riding in a con. Currently, all three of them road in Knock Out as they headed toward the destination. All of the flyers were overhead scouting out the best route as the grounders were in pursuit. A group of Vehicons surrounded the primary group for added protection. The atmosphere in the con seemed stifling as Siv remained silent and had her eyes cast downward. The boys sat as still as possible but glanced nervously about.

"The bridge ahead is completely destroyed," they heard Starscream radio in. "We'll have to use some of the underground tunnels." They veered off the main path and soon found themselves surrounded on all sides. For Jack and Raf it reminded them of what a subway must be like, only if it survived an air raid and were a hundred times larger.

"Knock Out," Vector Sigma finally spoke up as she hugged the artifact to herself. "Tell everyone to stop here."

"Of course my glorious lady," was his immediate but surprised reply.

They all stopped and transformed once she and the boys exited the medic. The flyers all transformed and landed to stand with the others. "Why'd we stop?" Jack asked her.

The cons looked annoyed by his attitude but didn't say anything. "May I inquire why we have stopped at this location, my lady?" Starscream bowed to her.

"Death awaits either path ahead," was her solemn reply. "The right is unstable and would crumble around all of us. The left… Well you all will not like it."

"We would gladly face the pit for you, Vector Sigma," Dreadwing bowed and the others followed.

She smiled at him sadly. "I know you would. We will walk from here." And so the group did for a while. The cons kept a decent pace only because Starscream held Vector Sigma, Soundwave had Raf, and Jack was with Dreadwing. The boys hadn't been thrilled to be carried by their enemies but Siv reassured them they would be fine. The silence of the tunnel slowly got on most of their nerves or circuits seeing as the only sound were the muffled echoes of their pedes on the tunnel floor. Siv tilted her head to look back at her scientist. "Ask your question aloud, **my seeker,"** she spoke suddenly.

He was startled for a second but quickly recovered. "I don't believe it would be appropriate, my lady," he nervously glanced about as everyone had their optics trained on the two.

She held his gaze, as if they were the only two beings in the world. "It is fine, so speak it aloud so the others may hear and understand the answer."

The second-in-command vented for a second before he finally spoke. "There are numerous rumors surrounding your existence, my lady. One of them intrigued me the most. It is said you have the ability to create cybertronian life, more importantly sparks. Is this true?"

The next few seconds were so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone had stopped and stared, waiting for her answer. Since the Allspark had been jettisoned into space no new transformers had been created. If she could do it, then maybe their population wouldn't be completely obliterated by the war. Or it could just as easily turn the tides for whichever side gained the new recruits.

Siv turned her gaze from all of them to look off into the distance. She sighed through the suit and they thought she wasn't going to answer. But she did. "You heard correctly my **dear scientist,** I can create new sparks." All of the Decepticons looked at one another in amazement. This could mean a whole new army. They could merely whip out the Autobots with sheer numbers. "However," her voice cut through their enthusiasm. "I am not our Creator. The Allspark endowed me with many gifts, one of them being the ability to generate new sparks. But even I have my limits. The Allspark creates a protoform simultaneously with the new spark. I cannot do that. I could create a protoform, but I am unable to make a spark at the same time. I have to wait until the body is complete before I could implant the spark. And there is another issue. I cannot create matter, like our beloved creator. I have to use materials available to me. This body," she emphasized by tugged on her suit, "was formatted from DNA and amino acids I gathered. The same would have to occur for a protoform. I'd need specific matter to produce the simplest form. And since this war, well such materials are scarce at best, if not mostly obliterated."

They all stood there in complete silence letting what she just relayed to them sink in. Surprisingly, it was Rafeal who spoke first. "B-but if you had the stuff you needed. You could make someone right?"

"Yes," she gently answered turning to the boy. "I would be able to formulate a new being completely separate and different from my own. It would not be just another version of myself like this body or some sort of clone like you had been pondering."

"Wow," was his only reply.

The tiny smile that had been formulating on her face completely disappeared and she turned to look further down the tunnel. A small 'tink tink' sound drifted down to them and they all readied their weapons. "It appears our company has arrived," Siv stated peering down into the darkness.

~*~

Miles away.

The bots came through the groundbridge and glanced around their destroyed world. "Nice to know this place hasn't changed a bit," Wheeljack commented. But none of them laughed as they were floored with memories and worries about what might be happening with their charges.

"So where do we go now?" Arcee asked.

Vector Sigma must have heard her because the next second their comm links were tapped into and her voice could clearly be heard. "So nice of you to join us. We will meet at a very important location. This place could be considered a place of redemption and new beginnings. Or of untold sparkbreak. That will be up to you and the others to decide. Follow Kitsune, and he will show you the way. Remember, the boys will be waiting for you. Good luck." With that the line went dead.

"Must she always speak in riddles?" Ratchet inquired.

"And who's Kitsune?" Bulkhead shrugged.

He got his answer when they all heard a sound behind him. All of them spun around and trained their weapons on the source of the noise. Only to get one of the greatest shocks of their lives. In front of them sat a turbofox. It was completely silver with matching silver optics that stared intently at them. It got up from its sitting position, turned around, and began walking away. But five feet away it stopped and glanced back at the confused bots, as if to say, 'You coming?'

"Well that's different," was all Wheeljack could come up with. Even before the war turbofoxes were a rare sight. Only the top elites ever got to see them on certain reserves where they paid for the right to hunt these mysterious creatures. It was rumored someone only got to see turbofoxes if they were lucky. They were so clever it was believed the only ones hunters ever caught were the young inexperienced ones. But since the war, when everything had been destroyed in the fight for energon reserves and territorial control most indigenous life, including the elusive turbofoxes, had been whipped out. Only the occasional glitchhound, cybercat, or glitchmouse could be seen. And most of those were either stowaways on ships or pets.

"Autobots," Optimus stated. "Transform and roll out."

~*~

With the Decepticons.

The sounds got closer and everyone could tell it was coming from more than one source. For the boys, and practically every con there, the sound was unmistakable. "Scraplets!" one of the Vehicons shouted. From there it was all out chaos as the little creatures came into optic range and caught sight of the party. The cons unloaded everything they had. The cons had to put Vector Sigma, and the boys, down in order to use both of their servo weapons. They were barely able to keep the buggers off and a few got through and began nibbling on a few of the Vehicons.

The boys stood there unable to do anything, seeing as they had no weapons or fire extinguishers. Even their enemies, excluding the one Insecticon who had been after Jack when he'd first gone to Vector Sigma, didn't deserve to be consumed alive. Raf looked to Jack but neither of them had a clue what to do. The boys glanced at Siv and she looked blankly ahead. "Siv?" Raf asked. "Vector Sigma?" Jack inquired louder. Their voices appeared to knock her out of state and she fixed her eyes on the Scraplet hoard and gave Jack the artifact to hold onto.

Siv shouted something in ancient cybertronian. The noise of her voice ricochet off the walls and if it weren't for their helmets preventing them the boys would have covered their ears. The little creatures slowly stopped what they were doing and looked at her. She repeated the phrase and they stepped toward her. The cons were going to take the chance to obliterate them but Siv held her hand up stopping them. Slowly, she bent down to the closest one and said something to it.

To their amazement it twirled around, as if happy, and snuggled into her. She gently smiled and picked the Scraplet up. Vector Sigma said something else none of them could understand but the Scarplet apparently understood her perfectly as it gently nuzzled the side of her helmet. She held it to her chest as she got back up. Other Scraplets hoarded about her feet, as if they were being left out and wanted her attention. Siv glanced at all of them and smiled as she kept that one to her suited chest. "They apologize for attacking you," she said to the cons. "But this is their nature and they are hungry for live metal. Not very popular to find these days."

"So sorry to disappoint them," Knock Out stated sidestepping a few that he thought got too close to his pede.

"Do not worry, they will not harm you if I wish it," she said petting the one in her arms. It snuggled closer to her and let out a noise that was similar to a cat purring. "But I'm afraid it is time for us to go our separate ways."

"What do you mean, Vector Sigma?" Arachnid asked her.

"Some journeys must be made alone huntress," she looked over to the boys. "We will see one another soon. Just follow these little guys and you'll find where you need to be." And at the end of her sentence she, along with the boys and the Scraplet in her arms disappeared.

~*~

With the Autobots.

The bots followed the turbofox as fast as they could. The creature was faster than they could have anticipated and traversed over the rubble with hardly any trouble. Whereas, on more than one occasion they had to go into robot mode to make it over certain pieces of debris in their path. It had surprised them to find they recognized some sections of the endless wreckage to be the ruins of Iacon. The last stronghold the Autobots had controlled until the mass exodus. But that didn't matter. All they could think about was when they would get the boys and Miko back. None of them wanted to consider the possibility they would never see their human friends again.

~*~

With the Decepticons.

"MY LADY!" Starscream shouted into the tunnel. But there was no reply. None of them moved because they had no idea where Siv could be if see merely made herself invisible to their scanners. However, after a couple moments the Scraplets did move and tilted their heads to the side, in a manner similar to the one Siv often did. Then, instead of attacking like a few of them thought they might, they turned and started headed further down the hallway. The cons really didn't know what to make of the situation.

One Scraplet stopped and tapped its head next to Dreadwing's pede and then indicated its head toward where its other brethren were heading. The cons looked to their leader who began making his way to follow the Scraplets. Seeing as they were out of options the rest followed their leader and their normal enemies turned guides. Unaware one Vehicon was also missing from their ranks.

~*~

In a neighboring tunnel.

"I think you really freaked them out back there," Jack told her as they walked down the tunnel. Raf was right next to them and the one Vehicon followed close behind.

"So you knew this was right next to the other tunnel and where the secret entrance was?" Raf changed the topic.

"Yes, also I cloaked any noise we may have made opening the secret dividing panel," she answered still holding the Scraplet in her arms.

"Alright," Jack spoke up. "So why are we separating from them in the first place? Aren't we going to the same location?"

"We are but you will see why I have chosen this different path for us when we get there," was her ever cryptic reply.

"Fine," Jack sighed knowing he wasn't going to get a straight answer. "Then why bring him along?" he indicated to the lone Vehicon following them.

"Jackson," Siv stated. "It is rude talking about someone like they are not standing right behind you. And I brought STEVE1 along because… Hmm." She actually paused like she had to think about the answer. "Well, I suppose you could say I have a certain fondness for him. Just as I have a fondness for this little fellow," she patted the Scraplet on its head.

The other three literally stopped for a second before following her again. "So, where are we going?" Raf finally inquired after a few minutes.

"Up," she pointed to a flight of stairs.

~*~

An Hour Later.

"STEVE1?" Siv spoke up at last. "Will you please pull over here?" They had gone onto the surface and road in the Vehicon for about an hour. He did as she asked and they got out before he transformed.

"Are we here?" Jack asked cracking his back through the suit.

"Almost Jackson," she said not looking up from the ground. "It is around the corner."

"Vector Sigma?" Raf asked noticing her distress.

"What's wrong?" Jack picked up on it too. Siv opened her hands as the Scraplet climbed from her embrace onto her shoulder.

She didn't say anything but continued to blankly stare at the ground. "You would not understand," she practically whispered.

"Understand what?" the younger boy put his gloved hand in hers.

"You've been acting different since we came here," Jack announced. "What is it? Is something going to happen?"

Siv did not reply but her shoulders sagged and her body seemed to fold in on itself a bit, like she became smaller. It was then they noticed, while she wasn't crying, her shoulders shook in the same manner. And the rest of her trembled violently. "I've tried so hard," she managed. "For so long. But no matter what I do none of them select the path that would be best for all of them."

They had no idea what to say to that. They didn't fully understand what she meant but Siv looked on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Seeing as she had been practically unemotional most of the time they were around her it clearly unsettled them. STEVE1 bent down not really knowing the best way to comfort her but followed what his spark told him to do. "Give her some space," he told the boys and used his servos to gently push them away from her a few feet. The boys went along with it and gave her room. He then put out his servo and allowed the Scraplet to sit in his palm instead of on her shaking shoulder. She stood there in that state for a couple minutes. None of them said anything but eventually her trembling died down and she finally looked up. Siv peered up into the Vehicons face and smiled at him.

"Thank you STEVE1," she told him. "I need that," she gently patted his free servo and gave him the go ahead to return to his pedes. "Sorry for my outburst," she apologized. "It is not your fault and I had no right to place that burden upon you."

"We all have bad moments," Raf smiled at her.

"And what are friends for?" Jack added. "They're there for each other when they need it the most."

She looked actually a bit surprised at his statement. "Friends? After all I have done for you and put you through?"

"You haven't hurt us, so I doubt you've actually done anything bad to Miko," the youngest boy told her. "And we may not appreciate what you've put the bots through… We get that's just how you are. I don't think you would've gone through all this trouble for no reason."

"And we have to admit it's been a wild ride," Jack added. "Not to mention we got to go to an alien planet and have the run of a Decepticon warship."

Siv smiled at the boys. "Mere children in most eyes," she said. "But you are both more mature and forgiving than those twice your age." She held out her hand and Jack handed her back the artifact. "Friends? I cannot say I've had many of those. Brothers, a creator, but friends? Only a few have ever fit that definition in relation to myself." She turned back to the direction where they had to go and took a step forward before stopping. Like she'd hit a brick wall and her face drained of all its color.

This time the boys were ready. Jack got on her left and gently put her arm in his. While Rafeal put his left hand in her right. "Well we've never had someone like you consider us a friend," Raf stated.

"But one thing we know is that friends stick together," Jack interjected.

"No matter what," Raf finished.

In return she smiled at the both of them and let out a sigh. "What lies ahead of us will be difficult. Not only for us four, but for the Autobots and Decepticons. This will live in your memories forever and not for the better. I can only offer you four the chance to turn back now. I have to face this for the others but you could remain here until it is done."

"I will have to decline Vector Sigma," STEVE1 spoke up behind them. "I am with you until the end." The Scraplet appeared to agree with the con seeing as it jumped up and down in his servo and nodded.

"What Steve said," Jack nodded. "Whatever's ahead of us…"

"We'll face it together," Rafeal stated. She looked at all of them and smiled before she nodded and took another step forward.

~*~

At the Designated Location.

The Autobots had lost track of the turbofox, more like it had seemed to vanish from their sight completely. Now they transformed and glanced about for what to do next. Unbeknownst to them not far off the Decepticons faced a similar problem. Little by little their Scraplet guides disappeared and now they were left without any idea where to go from there. Slowly, the two opposing sides got closer and closer to one another.

The key moment came when Arcee spotted Knock Out the same moment he saw her. "Decepticon!"

"Autobot!" It was instantaneous as the medic and femme fired at each other and ducked behind the closest piece of debris. Both sides took position as they gazed at each other across a 'no-man's land'. Weapons trained and ready for a fight they awaited their leaders' orders. But both Megatron and Optimus were beat to it as another voice rang out.

"Enough!" they all turned to see Vector Sigma walk in front of them. Jack and Raf were behind her, along with STEVE1 and the Scraplet now on his shoulder. "If you are wise all of you will stand down," she told them.

"Vector Sigma!" Ratchet shouted.

"My lady!" Starscream called.

"Jack!" Arcee called and Bumblebee called Raf's name in his beeps.

She stopped and looked back at the boys. "You four will remain here," she didn't leave any room for argument. "STEVE1," she looked up to the Vehicon, "I need you to guard these boys and make sure no harm comes to them. Is that understood?"

"I will not fail you, Vector Sigma," he bowed and even the Scraplet nodded.

"B-but," Jack started but was cut off by the look Siv gave him. It was surprising she could give him a facial expression his mom gave him when she meant business. "Never mind."

She turned back around to face the warring factions. "I brought you all here for a reason." Siv walked right between the two groups like there was no problem at all. She stopped in front of what appeared to be a pile of debris. "Until now I admit I have kept you in the dark of why I came to earth, took this form, and brought all of you back to Cybertron. Why I tricked you and took your friends from you. Well, now you will receive your answers." She turned around to address everyone and her eyes appeared to glow. She stomped her foot down and a silver light appeared to coarse through a part of the ground.

It shook a bit and to their amazement stayed lit as ancient Cybertronian appeared. Behind her a section of the ground began to rise and formed what might have been a door behind her. "Autobots! Decepticons! You have waged war for eons. It has cost numerous sparks and has destroyed practically everything once treasured or valued. My brother now slumbers and our creator has been cast to the stars." She held out the key looking artifact in front of her. "I offer you all a second chance. But the fighting must stop. Brothers must come together once more. The fate of not only this world but another now rests in your servos. Consider wisely and put away your anger and resentment." The key in her hands appeared to let out a small pink light. "Please contemplate the gravity of the situation and the consequences that will follow." She appeared to be pleading with them.

"Magnificent Vector Sigma," Megatron began. "I'm afraid what you are asking of us is impossible. I doubt the Autobots would welcome us with open servos and if given the chance they would simply follow those we fought so hard to overthrow," the tyrant stated looking directly at Optimus. Old wounds and grudges ran deep.

"Megatron is correct in the fact we could not coexist," the Prime admitted. "As long as they are functioning they will corrupt the universe with their evil and tyranny."

"Such noble words Optimus," Megatron took a step forward. "But what will they get you when I hold your pulsing spark in my servos?"

"I'd like to see you try," Arcee spoke up.

"Aren't we feisty today?" Arachnid cackled.

"Brave words from such an ugly glitch," Wheeljack taunted the she-spider.

"Like you're one to talk," Knock Out stated. As the two opposing sides spoke they grew closer to one another. No one seemed to be paying attention to Siv as she stood there, unmoving. The boys knew this wasn't going to end well and so did STEVE1. He took a defensive stance ready to do what Vector Sigma had asked of him. Both the humans looked at Vector Sigma and felt their hearts drop. She had a horrified look on her face as she frantically glanced between both fractions. Her eyes were practically screaming no as she clutched the key to her.

"I think we'll just take the key and begin our world again," Starscream sneered. "Why don't you run back to that precious dirtball your pets inhabit?"

"How about I toss you off the nearest building after I rip your wings off?" Bulkhead countered.

"It appears only one of us will be the victor Prime," Megatron took his stance and armed his cannon.

"So be it Megatron," Optimus got ready.

"Decepticons!"

"Autobots!"

"ATTACK!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" a voice was drowned out by the sound of cannon fire and clashing metal.

The next few seconds was a mixture of blurred images and open fire. The boys ducked while STEVE1 grabbed them and ran behind the nearest cover. Even through the suits their ears were ringing and the ground shook a bit. But they had to chance looking. They had to see if their guardians… If their friends were alright.

They peered around and saw complete chaos as the bots and cons went full force at one another. Blades clashed as blasts either hit their target or missed by centimeters. Bulkhead smashed a Vehicon's head into the ground and Ratchet sliced one clean in two. Sparks and parts flew everywhere.

But something else caught their attention above all else. Something so small it could have been completely overlooked in all of the fighting. It was Siv. She still stood in the same position. Not moving. Not doing anything. All she appeared to do is stare blankly ahead. She didn't look upset, she wasn't crying, she didn't even seem to be focusing on anything or one in particular. That look scared the boys more than her unemotional responses, more than facing the cons, more than this entire weird adventure and wondering where Miko was. In her expression all they could discern was hopelessness. And that's when they fully understood. But they did not have time to dwell on this revelation long as she finally seemed to focus on something. It was them. She looked directly at both boys. Her eyes seemed to peer deep into them. As if her being was calling out to theirs'. As they grew lost in her silver depths they noticed something out of their peripheral vision. The next second they saw her body go flying in one direction and the key in the other as a single shot obliterate where she had been.


	13. Until We Meet Again

"VECTOR SIGMA!" the boys shouted with everything they had. STEVE1 noticed at the same moment. "Lord Megatron, Lieutenant Starscream!" he commend, "Vector Sigma is injured!"

"What?!" Starscream literally screamed as he searched for her. And he did, lying in a crumpled heap about fifty feet away. She wasn't moving. **"MY LADY!"** The others turned to see what he was looking at and knew why the seeker appeared to be in such a state.

"Stop the fighting!" Raf bravely charged out from where he and the other three had been hiding.

"Siv! Are you alright?" Jack was right behind him. STEVE1 followed close behind still remembering his orders.

The three ran past confused bots and distracted cons, including the distraught seeker, to where she lay. Jack knelt down next to her body. What appeared to be glass, or at least something similar to it lay around her. That's when she rolled over to her other side and unfolded a bit. Her helmet was gone.

The enemies stood there, unmoving. Not really knowing what to do. She had a human body, and while the bots hung out with humans enough they did not know what one should do in a situation like this. Luckily, Jack took charge. "Don't move," he told her looking at a gash on her forehead that was bleeding profusely. The blood streaked down her face and into her left eye. "We got to get her oxygen. Now"

Before anyone could prepare a groundbridge, knowing humans couldn't survive without it, she held up her hand. "T-that will not be n-necessary," she managed sitting up.

"But you can't breathe here!" Raf tried to get her to stay down.

"I am fine Rafeal," she held her hand up to staunch some of the blood flow. "There is enough in the area from when the plants nearby ran to last me for a while."

"Stop moving!" Jack attempted to keep her still so he could get a better idea of her injuries. "You're only going to make it worse."

"I know what injuries I have sustained Jackson. None are life-threatening, simply bothersome." Siv tried to get to her feet but wobbled and fell to her knees again.

"My lady!" Starscream snapped out of it. The others followed suit as they crowded around to see her. None of them liked how blood poured out from somewhere under her hair and ran into her left eye. Nor that she had bruises and probably other damages they couldn't see because of her suit.

"What can we do?" Ratchet instantly went into 'doctor mode'.

"Just give me a little room," she told them. "STEVE1?" and like that he made all of them back up. It didn't matter they could end his spark, that they were his superiors or enemies. Vector Sigma mattered more to him than his own being. She attempted to get up again, this time with assistance from both of the boys, and succeeded. Though she leaned heavily on Jack before regaining her footing.

"You really shouldn't…" but the young man was cut off.

"I am alright," she assured them again. "Nothing I cannot handle."

"Then what are they?" the younger boy spoke up. "You said you knew what they were."

She smiled a little and held her right arm closer to her. "As you can tell a cut on my forehead under my hair. I have numerous bruises and small cuts under my suit."

"What else?" Jack prompted.

"Not going to let it go, are you? Very well, if you must know I also have a sprained ankle, the ulna in my right hand is fractured; I have a bruised kidney, and my back suffered a bit from the impact."

"Is that all?" Jack sarcastically asked.

"My lady, we beg your forgiveness," Dreadwing bowed and the other cons followed.

"It was our fighting that caused your injuries wondrous Vector Sigma," Knock Out stated.

"And they are not the only ones at fault," Prime admitted. Even though she wasn't technically human she still had the body of one. He had only seen two instance of a human being harmed due to fighting between the Decepticons and Autobots. And he had prayed to Primus such a thing would never happen again.

"I am not the one you should be apologizing to," she replied.

"What do you mean?" Arcee asked after a beat.

Siv inclined her head. "Huntress? Will you hand me that piece?" Next she turned to Bumblebee. "Dear Scout? Will you pass me that part?" They looked down and saw what she meant. They key like object she had been holding had been broken in two. "It was what took most of the impact," she explained as they handed them to her. She couldn't grab the one with her right hand, so Jack held it for her as she sadly stared at the two. "Two pieces, such as the fractions that stand before me," she mumbled and turned to face the door.

It was then they noticed the door had apparently crumbled a little and the silver words had vanished. She raised her good hand and waved it at the structure. It must have been a door because it went flying open. Siv took a step forward on her own and turned to face all of them. "You may have harmed this form but it is nothing to me. What truly mattered was what lay within that structure. It was destroyed by a safety mechanism the moment this key was broken. If you are sorry about what occurred then you should apologize to each other, yourselves, and them…" The last piece was so quiet they thought they had imagined it.

She stepped aside and nodded toward the open hole in the ground. "Go," she motioned for them. "And see what redemption will never be." Both sides took their time, and went separately, to see what she was talking about. But when they did, even for the cons, it made their sparks want to break in their chestplates.

In the hole it appeared there used to be a corridor. On either side, there had been protoforms in specialized holding tanks. 'Had been' being the critical phrase. Now the grey and silver bodies were strewn about all over the room. Their bodies leaking energon from various places, or in some cases missing limbs completely. What was worse was that the corridor seemed to continue into darkness and they only guessed more of the same would await them if they investigated further.

"I-is that?" Raf inquired as he finally got his look. Bumblebee tried to cover his friend's view but it didn't work. The poor boy had to fight the urge to vomit.

"Yes, it is," Siv informed him leaning against a pile of debris. "Along with an ample supply of regular energon. Upon the key's destruction the holding tanks automatically emptied into the core of this planet, directly into my brother Primus. At least he got something good from this."

"You knew," Jack stared at her in disbelief. "You knew this was going to happen all along."

"Jack," Arcee tried to comfort her partner but he was having none of it.

"You knew this was going to happen in the end," he went on. "That they wouldn't go along with your suggestion. Instead, they'd start fighting and you'd be caught in the crossfire, with the key."

"You are correct Jackson; I knew the path all of you would take before I even gave the option."

"Then why?" Ratchet asked her. "Why bother going through all of the trouble, getting us all together in the same place. Even giving us the chance. Why would you do it?"

They all stared at her. Thinking about it that way, it didn't make much sense. If she did know this would be the outcome why should she waste her time or bother? The outcome would inevitably be the same. Even if she made suggestions, like she had earlier, she ultimately knew they would ignore it and go their own way. Why waste the resources or even tell them about it?

"Duh! Why do you think doc-bot?" a voice said behind them.

They all turned around and greeted with a very familiar sight. "Miko!" Bulkhead yelled and ran over to his best buddy. Wheeljack followed close behind as the Wrecker picked her up in his servo and did the closest he could to a hug, without crushing her. She was in her own suit, only pink and black of course. Her hair bobbed in in the helmet as her partner jostled her around.

"Easy there Bulk!" she said. "It's nice to see you too."

"Miko!" the others crowded around their newly found comrade and friend.

"Are you alright?" Optimus asked.

"Where were you young lady?" Ratchet inquired. "We've been going through the pit for you."

"First off I'm great Optimus," she sat in Bulk's palm as she addressed everyone. "And I'm not really sure how to answer your question Ratch."

"How so?" the medic questioned.

"Well," she shrugged. "I was kinda everywhere."

"What?" Arcee blurted out.

"What do you mean?" Raf asked.

Miko motioned for her protector to put her down and he reluctantly did so, only so she could see the boys and give them quick hugs before answering. "Well it's like I said. I was everywhere! Heck, I'm not even sure when I was. Siv totally let me break all the rules." She looked past everyone to really get a decent look at Vector Sigma. "Damn V," she said. "You look like the pit."

"Miko!" Bulkhead admonished. The cons gave her the death glare but stopped once they actually heard a small chuckle come from Siv.

"Observant as ever I see," she got off a piece of debris she had been leaning against. "How did you like your little vacation Miko?" Siv inquired.

"Vacation?" Ratchet questioned. The poor medic almost appeared to be on the verge of glitching. "Please explain what she means before I loose what little processor I have left."

"Calm down doc," Miko assured him. "Siv took care of me the entire time and I was never alone. Oh but before I forget she also took care of the whole me 'disappearing thing'. My hosties thought I went home for break while my folks thought I was staying here. If anyone called Siv would forward it to my cell." She patted a pocket in her suit.

"But she has your cell," Raf pointed out.

"Think about it dude," Miko gently tapped his helmet. "She made those things you went after, this hideout place, and that body. She easily duplicated my phone."

They looked to Siv, she nodded, "It's true."

"So you weren't kidnapped?" Jack asked.

"No," the Japanese girl answered. "V. S. met up with me back in the cave and told me what she was gonna do. But she asked me to take a break, she didn't force me. Besides, I wasn't in any danger and watched you guys the whole time."

"You were watchin' us?" Wheeljack questioned.

"Yeah," Miko replied without missing a beat. "She set up this camera T.V. deal where I could see everything going on and make sure you were going to be alright like she promised."

"She even called me a few times," Siv told them.

"You said you were never alone," Prime said. "Who were you with?"

"First I was with this guy named Alpha Trion," Miko missed the astounded looks on everyone's face at the mention of that name. "He got me whatever I wanted or needed. I was set up in this awesome house somewhere in Hawaii with an enormous fridge and plasma T.V. in the living room. The bed hung from chains on the ceiling and there was surround sound everywhere, and she gave me every Slash Monkey C.D. along with some band named Tokio Hotel who wasn't too bad. And I could go surfing whenever I wanted."

"But I thought you said you were everywhere?" Raf questioned.

"I'm getting to that part," she stated. "Anyway that place was epic but V also said I could go out if I wanted to. So I did. That Alpha Trion guy took me to see some pretty cool places. Somewhere called Velocitron and Junkion. I also met some other bots. For a while I hung out with someone called Vector Prime. He took me to see Prima, he reminded me a lot of you Optimus. Then we saw this Nexus Prime guy and this femme named Solus Prime. I saw some other bots with Primes at the end of their names and they were nice."

"Y-you're telling me you met the original thirteen primes?" Ratchet, and all the others were blown away.

"Yeah," she answered him like it was normal to run into the original transformers every day. "So like I said you guys had nothing to sweat about. She even took care of you guys!" she pointed to the boys. Both of them gave her expression saying 'huh' so she continued. "You didn't tell them?" Miko asked Siv. "Guess I will then. Yeah, Raf she told your mom over the phone you got accepted into this week long computer program thing and even made it look like you packed and left normally. As for you Jack, she just went and talked to your mom."

"You talked to June?" Arcee inquired to Siv.

"I did," she then glanced over to Jack. "Before this happened I went and talked to her about what I would be doing. She was not thrilled but once I told her you and the others would not be harmed Ms. Darby became a bit more open minded. You all will be glad to know she used a very few choice words with me regarding all of your safety. Regardless of the fact I am who I am." Siv smiled at the end. "Are you not wondering why your folks have not been calling you since you also 'vanished'?"

"Good point," Jack shrugged. They really should have thought about that.

"So, I don't think it's cool how you guys are ragging on her 'cause she set this whole thing up," Miko gestured around. "She did it so you would see the error of your ways and what the war will ultimately get you guys." They all stared at the teenage girl with both astonishment and disbelief. "Boy Jack and Raf I can understand but the rest of you are supposed to be light-years ahead of us humans. For bots and cons so smart you all sure overlook a lot."

"Can you blame them?" Siv said. "I didn't exactly go easy on them."

"Yeah but they're oblivious! You did all of this for them and all that other stuff too."

"Miko," Vector Sigma sighed knowing the girl had just opened a door she would have rather left closed.

"What other stuff?" Jack inquired.

Miko let out a huff and her hair bobbed up and down out of irritation. She mumbled something in Japanese before glaring at all of them. "Do you think it was a coincidence Optimus heard Megatron's transmission back in the day? Out of all the info he could have picked up he heard that one speech? And later on the cons just happened to join together so quickly?" They couldn't believe what they were hearing, Vector Sigma had helped essentially start the war? But the girl wasn't done yet. "Then with us. Jack, weren't you scheduled to work the day we ran into the bots but your shift had been moved? And Raf you're mom only gave you five more minutes so she could order pizza cause your stove died the day you met Bumblebee. Plus, I somehow managed to get out of detention that day because my math teacher went home early."

Bumblebee made a series of beeps and Raf spoke up. "Y-you mean we only met the bots cause of Siv?"

"You got it!"

"Miko," Siv said. "I did not exactly need them to know what all I have done."

"Come on V. You're always goin' on about being fair. It's only fair we let them in on how much you've been helping all of us over the years. You don't take sides but you're far from the 'observer' you once were."

"My lady?" Starscream asked. "What does… This human refer to?"

"A time long ago, **my seeker,"** Siv looked up at them. "Once, long before any of you were created or even the golden age of Cybertron I lay in my actual being. Until then I had observed all and recorded it with no real understanding of its importance. I simply did it because it was my duty. However, one day a couple of special bots… I am not sure why they sought me out. And this was a time before I became a myth or forgotten, but not many came to me even then. They did, and the strange thing was they would not leave me alone. They did not have questions for me to answer like all of the others. Or if they did it would be considered 'personal' questions about myself I was not then familiar with. For example, they asked me what I enjoyed most about my position." Siv paused a second and her eye seemed to glitter with past memories. "I will admit I did not understand what they meant at the time. I did my duty because it was what I was best equipped to do. I did not contemplate whether or not I actually cared to do it. But those two bots were adamant. They came every single day for countless cycles with questions much like that. Then, one day, it was actually like all of the others, I finally answered their question. Or, more importantly, I was able to answer their question. Yes, I did like recording and observing everything. I found it fascinating to be able to see what others did, would do, and what paths they selected for themselves. It was wondrous how one's path could intersect another's and they would forever be intertwined." She glanced at the two opposing leaders as she spoke. "Of course they were ecstatic I finally gave them a proper answer. From then on they would come and truly converse with me for cycles at a time. I liked this. Being able to tell others what I did and why I found it important." Her face hardened and they awaited to see what caused her change. "It was not too long after this I realized a rather disturbing fact about myself. Until the day I gave them an answer… I had basically been going through the motions of living. I had been little better than a mere service drone or computer." The cons, especially a certain seeker, appeared like they were going to interject but she held up her good hand. "Let me finish. It was true. I was there but I had no thoughts about what was going on around me or what I myself meant to the whole ordeal. Those two bots were much like yourselves and argued I had been there all along, merely going through the motions. They stated I only needed the chance to 'wake up' and enjoy what was happening around me and what all I was able to see." Her face softened a little and tears glistened in her eyes. "Soon those bots, along with their brethren went to fight one of my beloved brothers. You know how that turned out."

"You mean those two bots were some of the original thirteen primes?" Ratchet asked.

"Yes medic," her voice cracked a bit. "I did not wish to take sides. My brothers were at war with one another and the original thirteen were also involved. Who's side was I to choose? I cared for them all, loved them all equally. So, I did nothing and let events unfold. As a result, one of my brothers became the center of this planet and my other one was sent out into the universe, soon to become the core of your home world." She leaned against a piece of metal again, as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. "Our creator told me to stay with Primus and I did. My destiny was meant to be here. But after seeing what had happened to all of them. All of the pain and suffering they went through and me unable to do anything. I had enough. Things were easier when I did my duty and concentrated souly on that. So, I once again closed myself off and became a myth or story over time. Now I emerged for the reasons Miko stated earlier. To guard you against the fate you may face later down this horrid line of war if you do not change."

"Man V you suck at lying," Miko told her.

"You dare call Vector Sigma a liar, vermin?" Starscream sneered.

 **"My scientist,** let her speak," Siv spoke up for her and the seeker obeyed.

"You got hurt when you couldn't do anything to help back in the day. But you didn't close yourself off. You still cared for everyone, including those two bots you mentioned. Heck, you got involved in the war because it signaled an end to something that paralleled what you went through personally." Miko put her hands on her hips as she really got into it. "You watch over all of us, bots, cons, and humans because you care for us. You did all of this to save us in the end. You try to keep this emotional blockade up because you know what will happen if we keep going like this and you don't want to get attached." She let go of her hips, walked over and put a gentle hand on Siv's shoulder. "But the fact is you're already hooked and won't leave us and let us destroy ourselves without a fight. That's why you gave them the option on coming together. And it's also why you made it so the key being destroyed took out the protoforms and energon, so one side couldn't take it and destroy the other."

Siv peered into the young girl's face and put her hand on top of hers. "That is why I chose you Miko Nakadai. You are intelligent and brave but the main reason is because…" Miko had to help Vector Sigma to her feet but they finally faced one another. "You understand." Miko gave her a knowing smile in return. The moment was soon disrupted when two swirling vortexes opened on either side of the groups.

"What is this?" Arachnid asked.

"Your ticket home," Siv replied. "Decepticons on the left, Autobots and human companions on the right."

"What about you?" Raf inquired.

"It is time for me to take my leave, young one," she told him. "You all have learned the lesson I set out to teach and must continue your journeys."

"But my lady," Starcream bowed. "We still need you, I still need you."

She slowly wobbled over to him and put her hand on his servo. "You are wise, **my seeker.** And I would ask you, and everyone else here, to join me. But you still have your paths to follow. Remember this, you make your own destiny. And if you are interested I will be waiting for you at the end of this war. You may join me then."

"I look forward to it, my lady," he bowed his head again before she slowly let go of his servo and he stepped away from her.

"It was eventful my genius Decepticons," she told them as they went to their bridge.

"Only because of you, my fabulous lady," Knock Out told her.

"You would be surprised how much I enjoyed you too, my medic," she smiled at him.

"Vector Sigma," Megatron spoke up before they made their departure. "You see all that has happened and will happen. Who will win this war?"

Everyone froze waiting for her answer. It finally came. "I do not know," she honestly told him.

"But I thought you know everything that's going to happen?" Wheeljack questioned.

"Normally yes, but our creator has bared even me from seeing that resolution. I cannot see the end of this war or what lies beyond it. But I believe the Allspark's will shall come about. I cannot be sure what our creator's intention is but I do know this. The war was not meant to be won or lost. It was meant to bring about change and then come to resolution. But do not forget, because you do not see me does not mean I will not be accompanying you," she seemed to direct that last bit at the second-in-command. "Until all are one, my treasured Decepticons," she lightly bowed to them.

"Until all are one, Vector Sigma," they replied bowing to her one last time. With that answer the cons began retreating through the spacebridge set for them. "Oh STEVE1?" she inquired before he stepped through. He had been the last. "Would you care to stay with me? I do not mean to be rude, the others must return but you have this chance."

He stepped away from the vortex and bowed, the Scarplet bobbing up and down on his shoulder. "I would be honored, my lady." She smiled at the two before addressing the Autobots.

"I do apologize for making you worry for your human companions. It is little consolation knowing they were in no danger now, but at the time it was harrowing for you."

The bots looked to each other and nodded at Optimus for confirmation. The Prime stepped forward and asked what they had all been wondering. "Vector Sigma, why did you not simply tell us who you were? We would have accompanied you without the thought of Miko or the boys being abducted."

A knowing look passed between Miko and Siv. "Uh I got this one," Miko said. "She did it 'cause she needed us to be here and knew you wouldn't bring us along even if you knew who she was. Besides, she wanted to do something special for me."

"Miko is an extremely unique individual," Siv stated. "Plus, it was kinda fun," she giggled.

"I don't believe it," Jack's jaw slacked a bit in disbelief. "You're even a bad influence on planetary beings!"

"What can I say?" Miko shrugged. "I bring the party wherever I go."

"As entertaining as this is I do believe it is time we returned to earth," Ratchet spoke up. He was met with nods of agreement from everyone. They all started heading for the vortex when Raf looked back.

"Vector Sigma?" he asked. "Are you going to be ok?"

"I will be fine Rafeal," she told him. "Now go and enjoy your break, and your families. Both of them."

"Up! Hold on a sec' guys before I forget!" Miko called running back to Vector Sigma.

"Miko, what are you…" Bulkhead stopped as they got their answer.

Miko ran up and hugged Vector Sigma. For the first time since meeting her, Siv actually appeared surprised by the gesture. It took her a couple of seconds of merely standing there like she didn't know what to do… Before she gently hugged the young girl back. "We should go on an adventure together next time," Miko told her.

"I would like that," Vector Sigma replied. "And remember dear Miko, I can wait for you for all of eternity." They pulled back from one another and Siv waved her hand. "Before you leave."

Like that the world looked like it went grey. It reminded the Japanese girl of the time her and the boys were stuck in the shadowzone. None of the bots or STEVE1 moved. "What's goin' on?"

"Another one of my abilities that can come in handy," Siv replied. "Miko, although I do not know the outcome of this war I do know dark times are ahead of all of you. So I wanted to give you this gift before you left, in private." She waved her hand again and both pieces of the broken key that had been placed aside came together in the air. There was a flash of pink light and they fused back together.

"Neat," Miko stated.

"Indeed," Siv held the key and it actually shrunk down from cybertronian sized to human sized. "This will protect you to an extent. So do not think you can blindly go running into a battle and I will always save you. This is only for the most dire moments." She handed it to the girl.

Miko looked it over and grinned at Vector Sigma. "Now what fun would that be if you did?" she replied putting the key in one of her suit's pockets. "And if you ever just wanna chat S.V. you have my number."

"And you mine," Siv smiled. "Now it is time for you to go home."

"And you."

"Tell them I said goodbye," Siv stated. "But you know as well as I do I will not leave them."

"I'll tell 'em," Miko told her. "You say goodbye to everyone for me. Especially Alpha Trion and Vector Prime."

"I will," and with that she waved he hand and time resumed.

"Farwell dear Autobots, I will be watching over you," Vector Sigma admitted as Miko rejoined the group. "Until all are one."

The Autobots stopped and replied, "Until all are one, Vector Sigma," before they stepped through the bridge with their found friends. However, right before they disappeared Siv picked up the sound of Miko saying, "Hea, doc-bot? Apology accepted."

"What shall we do now, great Vector Sigma?" STEVE1 inquired once they were alone.

A swirling vortex mainly consisting of blues and purples opened behind them and they turned. "We go home," she replied. "I will introduce you to the others."

"Vector Sigma," a voice called from the vortex and a figure stepped out before they could step in. "Your journey had been interesting I presume?"

"It has dear Alpha Trion," she replied. "I believe you and Miko had fun?"

"She is a boisterous little thing. Reminds me of you actually."

She smiled at the comment and turned to the Vehicon. "Alpha Trion this is STEVE1. He shall be accompanying us."

He looked at the con for a second before turning back to her. "And here you wanted to lie low."

"You know she cannot stay that way for long," another voice said before another bot joined them from the bridge. "Her true nature always shines through."

"Vector Prime," Siv greeted. "As punctual as ever."

"As are you, my lady," he casually stated. "Shall we return?"

"Yes," she nodded but held back a second. Normally no one would have missed it but these two had been with her long enough to be able to read her like a book.

"What is on your processor now?" Alpha Trion questioned.

"I am merely thinking," she cryptically answered.

"The last time you said that this entire venture was explained to us and commenced not two cycles after," Vector Prime stated nodded to the Vehicon as they followed her through the bridge.

"Maybe," she stated shedding her human visage and taking on the form she had been created with. "I was thinking of what might befall the Autobots and Decepticons. I am also considering my human friends and what their fate may be." All STEVE1 could do was stare in awe at her new visual being. She looked to him kindly, "You shall get used to this," she explained to him. "For now, please bear with me."

He finally found his vocalizer. "Of course, Vector Sigma."

"There has to be more to it than that to distract you so," Alpha Trion spoke up.

She laughed and the three bots did stop and appreciated the sound. It warmed their sparks every time. "You will never get used to that," Vector Prime told the new arrival.

"Well," she sighed. "There are other universes at war. More rights to wrong or to give a choice. But I do believe I will return to this particular one. Even if young Nakadai does not call me perhaps I will call her first."

"She really grew on you I take it?" Vector asked her.

"Did she not you as well? Yes, I will keep a close watch on all of them. Especially little Miko."

"And that seeker scientist you cared for," Alpha bluntly said. "I take it you will let him join us one day?"

"If he agrees yes, until then… Well I am patient." She let out a giggled and the two older bots new something was up.

"What are you up to now?" Alpha Trion asked her.

"Another 'adventure' I take it?" Vector more stated than inquired.

"Oh you both know me too well. The answer is yes I am," she smiled and they rolled her optics good humoredly. They knew in the end she always got her way and they could not deny her anything. But it didn't mean they couldn't grumble about it a bit.

"Vector Sigma?" STEVE1 questioned.

"I cannot wait until I revisit them. I wonder how they will handle my new form?" she laughed. "Who am I kidding? I don't have to wait, come along boys we're going to the future."

The older two vented but followed closely behind her. "Does the Allspark agree with this, my lady?" Vector Prime asked her.

"Our creator does not mind me doing this. I simply cannot see the outcome of the war and beyond. If I stay away from them I will not be going against her."

"Still hard to believe she won't let you out of all of us see the ending of this," Alpha Trion spoke. "Seeing as it concerns whether or not you're eventually going to have sparklings."

"Technically, they will be protoforms," she countered.

"Whatever, they will have the same deposition as sparklings when they are newly created."

"I will eventually have them, I feel that. But the Allspark works in mysterious ways, even to me at times." She took a moment to ponder the matter. "Much like a parent trying to protect their child from some harsh truth. Our creator made me for various reasons, one unknown even to me."

"One?" STEVE1 asked.

"Yes," Vector Prime answered for her. "The Allspark made our lady for numerous reasons, but one of them has been hidden from us since her creation. Our creator has sworn not to reveal it until the proper time has come."

"I still find it a little odd you can create protoforms and sparks but not your brothers. They can only make incarnations of themselves or use others to speak for them," Trion added.

"The Allspark set it and so shall it be," Siv stated peering into a vortex ahead. "I only hope the theory I have created concerning what she wishes to pass in the future is incorrect."

"We haven't heard this before," Vector looked to her.

"What is it?" Alpha Trion inquired.

She was quiet for the longest time and they thought she was not going to answer them but when she did speak it was so quietly they almost missed it. But when they registered what she said they froze and nearly glitched on the spot. "My theory is this… That one day my mother and brothers shall join as one in the Well. And I… Shall be left to take her place." With that she stepped forward into the swirling light and they were left to follow.


End file.
